An investment proposal for the launch of seed potato production in the region was developed by the Arkhangelsk Region Development Corporation, the corporation's website reported on February 21.
The project involves the creation of production of new varieties of seed potatoes on an area of 208 hectares. As conceived by the authors, the southern districts of the Arkhangelsk region can be used for these purposes.
The specialized Russian research institutes, breeders and seed growers have been tasked with obtaining a dozen elite potato varieties that will not be inferior to foreign samples. By 2025, the authors of the agrarian project "Development of breeding and seed production of potatoes in the Russian Federation for 2018–2025" adopted last year plan to reach volumes of about 18 thousand tons across the country. For these purposes, about 11 billion rubles have been allocated from the federal budget. In the northern region, the subsidy will amount to about 162 million rubles.
Let us remind you that at present the share of foreign seed potatoes in the Russian market is almost 80%. With some other cultures, the situation is even worse. For example, the share of imported sugar beet seeds is 98 percent. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told the members of the Federation Council about the difficult situation with the availability of domestic seeds and the need to finance this area.
Source: https://rossaprimavera.ru