In addition, the head of the department proposes to expand the powers of the Ministry of Agriculture so that the ministry is also responsible for the development of the food industry and rural areas - this is how agricultural departments work in other countries. It was also about the main trends of the new decade.
WP: Sergey Alekseevich, Time magazine named the Swedish eco-activist Greta Thunberg “Person of the Year”. Combating global warming and environmental pollution along with antibiotic resistance is one of the most important topics today. What is your attitude to this?
Sergey Dankvert: I cannot advise Greta Thunberg, she apparently has other advisors. Although no, I can - pay attention to the manufacturers of plastic containers. I would also draw the attention of eco-activists, firstly, to the cleaning of the World Ocean. Secondly, the ban on non-recyclable plastic. If countries continue to use it like they do now, there will be no fish in the ocean in ten years.
I advise manufacturers to refocus on packaging sausages in the natural intestinal membrane or the one that decomposes. And milk, in glass containers, is much more environmentally friendly than milk in plastic. It is necessary to fight to ensure that it is stored not for six months, but for two or three weeks.
WP: Among the main trends and agricultural export. Experts say that doubling it by 2024 is possible if world food prices are high and if the ruble is weak. Do you agree?
Sergey Dankvert: You want to say that to fulfill export plans you need to ask the Central Bank to establish a favorable exchange rate? (Laughs)
I am convinced that the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia should be the Ministry of Agriculture, Processing Industry and Development of Territories - this is how agricultural departments function in developed countries. Our line ministry must be responsible for the quality of all products that are imported and exported. For example, I do not believe that some imported sweets, cookies and jams contain sugar, and not substitutes. But nobody checks it. Nobody died from these jams, well, okay, but preservatives and their level in food products from abroad is a big question.
It is necessary to revive the applied institutes that were involved in the development of vaccines, medicines, seed production and selection within the framework of the Ministry of Agriculture.
WP: What new markets can Russia open to supply its products? At least China will open pork export in 2020?
Sergey Dankvert: China was the largest pork producer in the world - 54 million tons annually. For comparison: in Russia in 2019, about 4 million tons were produced. However, according to expert estimates, 2019% of the population died from African swine fever (ASF) in China in 40. At the same time, Russia, having lived with ASF for 12 years, increased pork production by 2,5 times.
In the near future, a vaccine for ASF is unlikely to be invented, so the situation on the global meat market will change dramatically. Russia, of course, can increase the export of its meat to Southeast Asia, including China.
It can also be assumed that as a result of climate change in many European countries there will be crop failure due to drought. Russia, if properly oriented, can increase the production of all agricultural products by increasing crop yields and diversifying production.
WP: Name the top three commodities - leaders in agricultural exports in the coming years.
Sergey Dankvert: Grain, vegetable oil and meat. But the grain export structure will change. Russia will probably sell abroad not only wheat, but also rapeseed, corn, oil flax, safflower and many legumes.
We recently met with our Turkish colleagues, they are concerned about the growth of legume production in Russia. These crops are grown in Turkey and sold to Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan. Colleagues are asking Russia to produce more corn, which requires a lot of water, which is expensive in Turkey. In general, one of the leaders in the production of corn, the closest to us geographically, is Ukraine. There it is produced twice as much as we do - 35 million tons against our 14,5 million. But our Turkish colleagues say that the quality of our corn is better.
By the way, the yield of alcohol from corn is much higher than from wheat. In a good way, we should not spend wheat today on alcohol, it is better to export it.
WP: Competition in the global market will intensify. What will be the main export players?
Sergey Dankvert: Those that will apply new environmental standards. Could you imagine 15 years ago that you would not buy steel from a country that smokes too much in its production? And now it is possible. Environmental requirements are established when buying oil. What can we say about potatoes. Many countries have banned the use of neonicotinoids (pesticides) in the cultivation of potatoes. The same glyphosate. But so far we are not on the list of such countries, unfortunately, because the Ministry of Agriculture is not responsible for regulating the turnover, application and use of pesticides in agriculture, which is very strange. If we want to be competitive, we must see new trends and production standards for 10 years ahead.
In addition, there are millions of unplowed hectares of land in Russia. But now we must not follow the path of increasing yields. In Ireland, for example, a yield of 95 centners of grain per hectare was achieved, which is 3 times more than in Russia. But after being carried away with the use of chemistry, they realized that it was better to raise sheep, and grain should be bought elsewhere.
In order for global agricultural production to be effective and countries competitive in it, everyone needs to agree on who will do what. To do this, there must be fair working conditions in the WTO, which, alas, cannot be said today.
Antibiotic adjusted
WP: New Zealand announced the abandonment of antibacterial drugs in animal husbandry. What are your plans for Russia?
Sergey Dankvert: Since 2021, the European Union is also switching to increased control over the use of antibiotics. And in medicine in European countries, strict measures are legally defined - an antibiotic cannot be bought without a doctor's prescription.
Russia was the first to raise the issue of monitoring the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry in the early 2000s. Then the Rosselkhoznadzor drew the attention of European and American colleagues to the residual content of antibiotics in the products that these countries exported to Russia. There was heated debate. I am convinced that foreign colleagues have become more serious about these issues, including due to our position.
In Russia, industrial animal husbandry and poultry farming began to develop rapidly in large agricultural complexes relatively recently. It is known that a large concentration of animals within one complex is associated with a high risk of spread of infections. Therefore, antibacterial drugs are often used for prophylactic purposes. Of course, this is a violation. But it cannot be fixed at once. A risk warning system has been built for years.
Unfortunately, the use of antibiotics in Russian animal husbandry has until recently been controlled insufficiently effectively. There were legislative restrictions on the introduction of antibacterial agents into feeds, but manufacturers who added antibacterial drugs had better gains. And those who used these feeds did not even know what they were using. Antibiotics are sold freely and can be purchased by any veterinarian, pet owner or food producer.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Rosselkhoznadzor are now actively working to change the situation and legislate the need for traceability of the use of medicines from production or import to animals.
WP: How so?
Sergey Dankvert: We are experiencing serious resistance from those who do not want to undergo serious control over the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and poultry farming.
The Rosselkhoznadzor has developed and sent to the Ministry of Agriculture a package of amendments to the Law "On Veterinary Medicine". It contains a ban on the use of antimicrobial drugs as growth stimulants, as well as for prophylactic purposes. The norms for the prescription of antibiotics have been determined. A whole article is supposed to regulate the manufacture of feeds with the addition of drugs.
In 2019, a new requirement was introduced into the Law “On Circulation of Medicines” on the mandatory indication of the method for detecting antibiotic residues in products in the registration dossier.
There are certain requirements for the residual amount of antibiotic content in meat and milk. For example, in order for a drug not to get from an animal’s body to a human’s body with milk, a certain amount of time must pass for it to be removed from a cow’s body. The need to indicate the methodology in the registration dossier eliminates the gap when the antibiotic is already available for sale, and there is no methodology for its detection in the product.
Veterinary Vertical
WP: How do you check what is being done at the enterprise or laboratory in the region? After all, you can draw any help stating that the antibiotic is excreted from the cow's body.
Sergey Dankvert: But just so that there would not be such and many other violations when the veterinarians and laboratory staff in the field do what they want, they do it for many years, we have been trying to amend the law on veterinary surveillance. They are accepted.
The new rules should correct the negative consequences of the administrative reform of 2004, which led to fragmentation of the system of state veterinary supervision. Since 2020, the authority to inspect legal entities and individual entrepreneurs who work with livestock products is secured exclusively at the federal level. That is, only an inspector of the territorial administration of the Rosselkhoznadzor will be able to come with a check to an enterprise that is engaged in keeping or slaughtering animals, as well as processing and selling meat, dairy or fish products, from 2020. The inspectors of regional veterinary services will no longer have such a right.
Previously, both regional and federal inspectors could check the enterprise. Obviously, the functions of these two branches were duplicated and created an excessive burden on the business. In addition, each region could develop its own regulation on veterinary surveillance, in fact, enter anything in it. And this process was out of control. The facts of the spread of infectious diseases were hidden. Livestock products unsafe for human health were excluded from circulation on time.
Imagine - a governor, he has a veterinary service. She checks, finds violations and shows them to the governor. And he, worried about the reputation and causing economic harm to the region, asks not to disseminate the data. Therefore, we have always said that supervision should be independent.
Opposed to the adoption of the law on federal supervision, by the way, the largest subjects that did not want to transfer the authority to issue veterinary documents. Our goal is to facilitate the work of the state veterinary service, so that it deals with the treatment of animals, the prevention of their diseases, and epizootic measures. And in the regions, they often just wanted to receive money for issuing veterinary documents, replacing this with the work of the veterinary service. Federal agencies operate within a transparent and well-known regulatory framework. In our case - within the framework of the federal law on veterinary medicine. Therefore, clear, common standards are now defined for control and decision-making. We will build a normal system. We consider the adoption of the law a great victory. The next stage in strengthening the vertical of veterinary supervision and increasing biological safety is the adoption of amendments to the law on veterinary medicine, which will ensure the labeling and registration of domestic and farm animals.
I consider it important that we have achieved that almost 95% of laboratories in the regions interact today with the electronic laboratory control system of the Rosselkhoznadzor "Vesta". We can see the results of all laboratory tests, including the residual content of antibiotics in the raw materials, too.
WP: How is imported products controlled? Where is the guarantee that antibiotics will not be found in imported cheese and sausages?
Sergey Dankvert: Good question. Today, the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) have a norm of mutual recognition of the results of registration of medicines. And this means that, despite all our efforts, any antibiotic made in China or, for example, in Africa and registered, say, in Kazakhstan, can freely circulate in Russia.
The requirements and approaches to the examination of the EAEU member states are different. Uniform rules for the circulation of medicinal products for veterinary use, which were developed by the previous composition of the Eurasian Economic Commission, have not been adopted. And this allows you to bypass Russian legislation. Therefore, I would like to wish the new composition of the Eurasian Commission, firstly, to quickly increase the list of antibiotics, the residual amount of which in livestock products that people eat must be controlled. Secondly, to create a unified electronic traceability system within the Eurasian community. You can take our information system "Vesta" into service.
WP: Do you admit that Russia will ever give up antibiotics, like New Zealand?
Sergey Dankvert: Life will make you move forward. But for this it is necessary to restore order. Unfortunately, the legislation in Russia for many years has been formed by people who are interested, affiliated with Western companies and maintained for their money.
And today, having discovered a violation, we can only stop the batch of issued medicines, but not close the enterprise that produces it. Recently, I reported on this problem to Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Vasilievich Gordeev.
According to research, the Russian market for veterinary drugs, including the sale of antibiotics, reached 65 billion rubles. Of course, for certain companies this is a good business, which they simply will not give up.
WP: What is the share of products produced by Russian biofactories in these 65 billion?
Sergey Dankvert: If we are talking about ointments for treating animal hooves, then maybe 90% of this product is produced by our enterprises. And, for example, the data on vaccines for poultry farms are more modest - 30-40%.
In order to calculate everything exactly, you must again enter all the data into an electronic traceability system. However, agricultural producers are not required to do this by law.
Without waiting for regulatory regulation of this issue, we began to check the quality and safety of imported vaccines. I think that as a result of this great work, the situation will be such that many foreign companies will open the production of vaccines in Russia. It will be easier for them to prove that they are safe here on the spot.
WP: Can't we cover the domestic needs for vaccines and other veterinary drugs ourselves?
Sergey Dankvert: The situation when different drugs are produced in different countries is normal. By the way, Russia exports billions of rubles of its own vaccines, although it purchases more.
But two abnormal ones are superimposed on this normal process. The first of them is due to the fact that as a result of perestroika, we practically lost our selection achievements in many animal species. Now breeding, and often tribal animals are imported from foreign countries. Suppliers recommend their technologies for their maintenance and cultivation. Including lobbying their vaccines. Of course, our breeders accept these recommendations.
ASF vaccine is unlikely to be invented in the near future, so Russia can boost its meat exports to Southeast Asia
The second point is related to technological lag. In the post-perestroika years, neither R&D nor R&D was practically funded, and domestic biotechnology lagged behind. Now they are trying to catch up, but this does not work out quickly.
WP: Does this mean that imported vaccines are better, they have fewer side effects?
Sergey Dankvert: First, despite certain difficulties, the dependence on imported drugs in veterinary medicine is less than in medicine. Secondly, Russian veterinary drugs are definitely not worse, while cheaper than imported counterparts. This is evidenced at least by the fact that last year our institute for the protection of animals in Vladimir - ARRIAH - sold abroad vaccines for 2,2 billion rubles.
WP: There are also vaccines, mainly domestic, recommended by the Ministry of Health for children. They are purchased by children's hospitals. Does Rosselkhoznadzor have the right to recommend something to Russian agricultural producers or even completely block access to the market for certain drugs?
Sergey Dankvert: We cannot recommend anything directly - the market is free. We carry out explanatory work. But our capabilities are much more modest than those of some foreign manufacturers of veterinary drugs. For example, they arrange seminars for our veterinarians on beautiful ships in the Caribbean. The drug market is a huge business that uses different methods to achieve goals. Our task is to show what is safe and what is not. This is what we are doing.
But it’s not enough to stop lots of low-quality products, including those containing unsafe drugs. It is necessary to adopt amendments to the law on veterinary medicine, allowing to completely close the enterprises that produce unsafe products.
Our Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Nikolayevich Patrushev absolutely correctly sets up the departments of the ministry to work on the legal regulation of many processes. This is much more important than doing only economic activities. Thanks to this, we have legislatively moved many of the problems that have accumulated before.
Organically and organoleptically
WP: The law came into force, which involves certification and labeling of organic products produced in Russia. So far, the market has less than 1% of real organic products. How is Rosselkhoznadzor planning to participate in this work?
Sergey Dankvert: This is a popular topic. But you said yourself that organics are less than one percent. Our main task is to ensure the safety of products, including those supplied to children's, school and medical institutions.
What is organic produce? These are meat, poultry, fish and milk, in the production of which antibiotics were not used, and plant products grown without pesticides and fertilizers.
Now we set a goal to ensure the traceability of the use of antibiotics. Then automatically everything will come to the point that we will control the market for organic products.
At first, private firms will do this. But when the export of Russian organic products begins to grow, sooner or later it will be stopped somewhere because of the violations identified. Then they will start asking where the state supervision is. And then the euphoria will pass and normal work will begin - a private laboratory will be forced to show us in electronic form how many product analyzes have been done and by what methods.
Now there is a struggle not for the quality of certification of organic products, but for a certain organization to be able to assign the organic mark to products. We will not fight for the right to issue such a mark, but to ensure that the products that will be labeled with it comply with the declared quality and safety. The task of state monitoring is precisely in this, at least at the initial stage.
In addition, understand that if I intervene now, everyone will say that the Rosselkhoznadzor is interested in this and has found a source for making money. This is not our task. We intervene when we see that government involvement is needed.
While the process is in the launch stage, I consider it premature to talk about state supervision, but we will certainly return to this.
Source: https://agrovesti.net/