Lyudmila Talabayeva, a member of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian Food Policy and Environmental Management, expressed the opinion that at the moment the Government needs to offer seed producers large subsidies and loans at low interest rates so that the state does not feel heavy losses from the ban on importing foreign seeds. She expressed her point of view in an interview with the online publication SenatInform, commenting on the news that representatives of Russian industry unions have sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin.
As specified "News"This is how agrarians reacted to the draft government decree, which says about the right of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Antimonopoly Service to set quotas for the import of imported seeds of potatoes, wheat, corn and other crops until the end of 2022. The associations explained that they mainly use foreign seeds in their production, the total share of which is still high and is about 55% for corn, 65% for potatoes, 73% for sunflower, more than 80% for vegetables and 97% for sugar. beets.
The Doctrine of Food Security of Russia states that the share of domestic seeds in the country's agriculture by 2030 should be at least 75%.
Senator Talabaeva recalled that the need to establish domestic selection and seed production has been discussed for many years. The topic has been discussed more than once in the Chamber of Regions, and the senators will continue to focus on this problem.
Having heard the parliamentarians, the Cabinet expanded a set of measures to support farmers. In particular, from 2023, the amount of reimbursement of part of the costs of creating or updating breeding and seed complexes will increase from 20% to 50%.
At the end of August, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a Decree on expanding grant support for farmerswhich participate in the implementation of complex scientific and technical projects, including in the field of seed production of industrial crops.
Prior to this, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that it could be introduced temporary ban on the import of seeds from the European Union and the United States as a response to anti-Russian sanctions. At the same time, the department called on the regions to purchase domestically produced seeds. As Aleksey Mayorov, head of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management, noted in the summer, in our country “they don’t know how to promote seeds of domestic selection, and some farmers buy only foreign analogues.” According to the senator, seed farming needs to be made investment attractive for private business. This, the senator is sure, can contribute to equating breeders in intellectual rights with composers and writers.