Sergey Sitnikov, at a meeting with vegetable growers of the Kostroma region, proposed a new mechanism for supporting the industry. The region is ready to pay an advance payment to farmers for future deliveries of vegetables and potatoes to social institutions. It is planned to transfer funds before the start of spring field work, the press service of the Administration of the Kostroma Region reports.
The issue of expanding areas for growing vegetables and potatoes, as well as providing local agricultural products to social institutions, was discussed by Governor Sergei Sitnikov during a field meeting in the Kostroma region. The working meeting was attended by the heads of a number of municipalities, as well as heads of agricultural enterprises.
In the Kostroma region, 67 farms are engaged in the cultivation of vegetables and potatoes. The main volume of production falls on the Kostroma, Krasnoselsky and Nerekhtsky regions. Increasing the production of "borsch set" vegetables and potatoes is one of the key tasks identified by Governor Sergei Sitnikov.
For each additional hectare for growing vegetables and potatoes this year, at the initiative of the head of the region, a double coefficient for the provision of unrelated support has been introduced. An additional measure was also the fixing of prices for mineral fertilizers for farmers at the level of May last year, which will help to contain the growth in the cost of production.
This spring, the region's farms plan to increase vegetable plantings by almost a third and expand potato plantings by 12%. At a meeting with farm managers, Governor Sergei Sitnikov proposed an additional mechanism to support the industry - the formation of a state order for social institutions and advance payments for future deliveries of vegetables and potatoes.
“We are interested in ensuring that local enterprises can receive state funds in advance for future supplies, so that our social institutions are guaranteed to be provided with vegetables, dairy products, and meat. Thanks to this, it will be possible to provide for the social sphere and reduce budget expenditures, feed patients of medical institutions, elderly residents and children with local products. The money that we allocate for food in schools, kindergartens, hospitals, social institutions - they are in the budget today. The administration is ready to allocate these funds as an advance payment so that agricultural producers can receive them under guaranteed supplies this spring and use them for household work, from sowing to harvesting,” the head of the region noted.
Currently, the region is specifying the needs of social institutions in the supply of vegetables and potatoes. The region is ready to transfer an advance payment of up to 50% to the farms that have fixed the average annual prices for these products. Farmers were invited to take part in the project.
“We have never had such an experience. In the future, you can consider the possibility of increasing the prepayment to 60-70-80%. But we must be confident in the supply of these products,” Sergei Sitnikov emphasized.