Dzhambulat Khatuov, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, paid a working visit to the Nizhny Novgorod Region. He met with Nizhny Novgorod producers of vegetables, potatoes and sugar beets.
According to the deputy minister, this year was difficult for agriculture in the Nizhny Novgorod region due to a severe drought, which affected the yield. Nevertheless, the region remains a stable grain producer and also one of the leaders in potato production.
At the same time, Khatuov stressed that the region has reserves for increasing the volume of agricultural production. In particular, it is necessary to work on improving manufacturability, varietal renewal, putting abandoned lands into circulation, as well as updating the agricultural machinery fleet. It was these areas that became the main topic for discussion during meetings with agricultural producers. In the Arzamas region, the meeting concerned the production of potatoes and vegetables, and in Sergach - sugar beet.
“The whole country knows Nizhniy Novgorod potatoes, they are of very high quality. Now there is a “battle for the harvest”, late varieties are being harvested. Compared to last year, due to weather conditions, the volume of potato production has partially decreased, but we see that there is enough of it in our country to meet the needs of buyers, ”the Deputy Minister commented.
Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Gleb Nikitin stressed that developed agriculture is a guarantee of food security, and federal support plays a huge role in the development of the region's agro-industrial complex.
“We try to annually increase the amount of support for farmers and rural areas in general. In this process, the joint work that the region is carrying out with the federal ministry and the funds that are allocated to us to support agricultural producers are very important. This year we are allocating more than 4,6 billion rubles for these tasks, which is about 2020% higher than the level of 11. About 1,8 billion rubles of this amount is federal funding. Only under the program "Comprehensive development of rural areas" the volume of support for the region has doubled. An application for the next year has already been formed, and we expect that thanks to the participation of the federation, the program will become a driver for the development of infrastructure in the regions, ”Gleb Nikitin said.
In turn, Deputy Governor of the region Andrei Sanosyan added that in addition to supporting existing agricultural producers, the region is actively working to attract new investors.
“The implementation of new projects in agriculture leads to the emergence of new cooperative chains, the development of infrastructure and the emergence of jobs, which is especially important for the remote corners of the Nizhny Novgorod region. At the same time, the developed area attracts new investors. In this sense, the interests of the state and business completely coincide, and the agricultural industry of the region can be confidently called investment-attractive. For the period from 2011 to 2020, the volume of investments in the agro-industrial complex of the Nizhny Novgorod region amounted to 93,9 billion rubles. Currently, more than 70 investment projects in this area are being implemented in the region for a total amount of over 30 billion rubles. This is almost one and a half thousand new jobs, ”said Andrei Sanosyan.