“Seed production is a strategic issue for ensuring national security, and effective measures are required to solve it,” said Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya during a meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Legislators, reported press service of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
“Our position is as follows: in accordance with federal law, the Ministry of Agriculture must submit a national report every year, you know about it. We plan to make it the subject of real discussion at a meeting of the State Duma, as required by federal law. Our task today is to unite the efforts of the legislative and executive authorities in order to develop not road maps, but mechanisms for resolving issues,” the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma emphasized.
Irina Yarovaya noted that roadmaps are written for too long, then it takes time to complete them, and a high-quality result is required now.
“We are well aware that biotechnology is the present and future of the whole world, this is what, in fact, there is competition for, and today the issues of genetic engineering, biotechnology are issues that ensure, among other things, the success of agricultural development and which are being converted in the quality of life, the well-being of citizens and the success of the economy,” emphasized Irina Yarovaya.
She recalled that back in 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin set tasks for import substitution based on the fact that seed production is a key factor in the independent development of the agricultural industry as a whole.
“And the task that State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin sets for parliamentarians is to assess the effectiveness of the previously used mechanisms that are being implemented by the relevant ministries, to understand the reasons why these mechanisms did not work. Because today, if we objectively assess the situation, look at the indicators that were set by the President as goals of achievement and as signs of success, they are not adequately provided, at that calm time when the purchase of imported seed stock continued,” the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma emphasized .
In preparation for the meeting, parliamentarians interacted with agricultural producers to understand how seeds are purchased today. “We found out that many farmers still buy imported seeds. There are several reasons. One of them, unfortunately, still lies in the fact that the proper quality of the Russian seed fund has not appeared: neither in volume, I want to emphasize, nor in quality,” Irina Yarovaya noted.
She recalled that today there are scientific institutes subordinate to both the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of Agriculture.
“Unfortunately, proper collaboration, pooling of efforts and project financing, breakthrough solutions in seed production did not happen,” Irina Yarovaya stated.
According to her, there is still a “dissipation of resources”, and there are no qualitative, positive results.