One of the first events of the newly created Potato Union was the All-Russian Conference "Strategy for the Development of the Fruit and Vegetable Market of Russia", which was held on June 2-3, 2011 in St. Petersburg. Together with the Potato Union, the conference was initiated by the Association “Greenhouses of Russia” and the Union of Wholesale Food Markets. The conference was actively supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. The event program was addressed to all industry experts, as well as representatives of logistics companies, wholesale distribution centers and wholesale markets.
At the conference, They discussed the tasks of the state and business in creating conditions for the development of the Russian fruit and vegetable market. Particular attention was paid to the creation of modern infrastructure facilities for primary underworking and storage of agricultural products and modern wholesale distribution centers.
Ilya Shestakov, Director of the Department of Agri-Food Market Regulation and Infrastructure Development, and Aleksey Gradov, Head of the Market Infrastructure Development Department, formulated the position of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture on the development of the fruit and vegetable market.
The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation adopted the departmental target program “Development of infrastructure and logistics for the agri-food market”, which laid down certain support mechanisms, including subsidizing interest rates on investment loans raised for the modernization and construction of fruit and vegetable and potato storages.
Currently, a new State Program for the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex for 2013-2020 is being prepared, which provides not only support for the modernization and construction of fruit and vegetable storage facilities, but also plans to build wholesale distribution centers. One of the first events of the recently created Potato Union was the All-Russian conference "Strategy for the Development of the Russian Fruit and Vegetable Market", which took place on June 2-3, 2011 in St. Petersburg. Together with the Potato Union, the conference was initiated by the Russian Greenhouses Association and the Union of Wholesale Food Markets. The conference was actively supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. The program of the event was addressed to all industry professionals, as well as representatives of logistics companies, wholesale distribution centers and wholesale markets.
I.V. Shestakov, director of the Department of regulation of the agri-food market and infrastructure development:
“In previous years, attention to the development of the domestic produce market was not close enough. The situation must be corrected, solving problems with the underdevelopment of the infrastructure, insufficient quantitative and qualitative provision of storage facilities ... "
The concept being developed is based on European experience, taking into account Russian specifics.
The main task of the wholesale distribution centers will be the formation of an effective pricing system and the expansion of agricultural product sales markets, its quality check, subsequent packaging, sorting and further sale to retail chains, catering organizations, and processing enterprises. The wholesale distribution center will provide infrastructure services for enterprises producing vegetable crops and meat and dairy products. These centers are designed primarily for medium and small producers who have difficulty selling their products.
When creating wholesale distribution centers, the Department of Agri-Food Market Regulation expects to organize a public-private partnership. Of course, a private trader will work, but the task of the state is to monitor compliance with the quality and safety parameters of agricultural products, monitor the effectiveness of pricing.
During the active discussion, the participants expressed different opinions and suggestions, which can be summarized as follows:
- leaders of the produce market are ready to actively share their experience in developing the logistics infrastructure with the Ministry of Agriculture;
- the market needs government assistance primarily in the development and approval of modern industry standards for product quality, as well as in the creation of independent industry laboratories to monitor product quality;
- dialogue between government and business should be actively pursued through such events.
The conference organizers managed to gather a strong composition of participants, almost all the companies visible on the Russian potato market were represented at the top management level. For the Potato Union this was the first public test for consistency, as well as a good opportunity to express the Union’s position on important industry issues, which Sergey Lupekhin did in his speech (read an interview with S.N. Lupekhin).
Speaking about the speeches of the speakers, I would like to note the ones that caused the greatest interest:
Development of technologies for the processing of fruits and vegetables.
(General Director of Maxim Gorky LLC Samoshin Andrey Anatolyevich).
Prospects for investments in the fruit and vegetable market –problems of lending to the fruit and vegetable sector of the agro-industrial complex.
(General Director of the Dmitrov Vegetables Group of Companies Filippov Sergey Nikolaevich).
Competitiveness of domestic fruits and vegetables. (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Moscow Agricultural Complex Sidorov Evgeny Georgievich).
Proposals for creating an optimal structure for providing agrochemicals and fuels and lubricants to market participants.
(Deputy General Director of Malino OJSC Gubina Tatyana Dmitrievna).
Experience and problems of development of seed production of potatoes.
(Chairman of the Board of Directors of the “Group of Companies Agroindustrial Park” Chuenko Alexander Mikhailovich).
Photo courtesy of Creative Technologies
