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Volga Baikal AGRO NEWS Update on the Russian Food Security !!!
THE HARVEST WILL COVER THE RUSSIAN INTERNAL NEEDS & EXPORT ONES.
If last year the main challenge for Russian farmers was a pandemic, this year weather risks were added to it. It is because of them that the next record for grain harvesting will not happen, although a good base has been laid for this and the acreage has been expanded. But the work of farmers together with modern agricultural technologies has borne fruit: the harvest will be decent, and it will be enough both for domestic consumption and for export.
Self-sufficiency
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted that the domestic agro-industrial complex continues to develop high-tech modern production. “The agro-industrial complex successfully solves the problems of food security in Russia and maintains a course to create high-tech, modern production. As the president has repeatedly stressed, we fully provide ourselves with basic foodstuffs and consistently develop global markets,” – stressed M.Mishustin.
According to the Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev, now farmers are fighting literally for every ton of products. This year, the emergency regime was introduced in 16 regions of the country, the Volga and Central Federal Districts were particularly affected.
However, in the whole country, more than 108 million tons of grain have already been harvested, and this is higher than domestic consumption. Also, according to D.Patrushev, farmers will get a good harvest of vegetables and reach a new level in the production of fruits and berries – 1.5 million tons. A significant increase is planned for oilseeds, including sunflower, and sugar beet – 40 million tons will be harvested. This will allow you to fully meet your own needs in sunflower oil and sugar.
“The Russians can be sure that the country’s food security will be ensured in all the key areas,” – assured the minister.
“Over the past few years, there has been a qualitative shift in the Russian agro-industrial complex,” – emphasizes Albert Davleev, President of Agrifoood Strategies.
“The qualitative leap is that, firstly, there has been a significant increase in the efficiency of agriculture. Maybe this year the yield was not very high, but in principle, the yield per hectare has grown significantly over the past five years. This indicates an increase in the effectiveness of comprehensive measures. Secondly, we have made great achievements in the selection of Russian wheat seeds. And this is recognized by leading experts in Europe, in particular by the French, from whom we previously bought a significant amount of seeds. Thirdly, we have a much increased number of farms in animal husbandry, which, with a strong reduction in the number of dairy cattle, sharply increased the milk yield per cow,” – said A.Davleev.
Also, many startups and biotechnologies over the past five years have begun to move from the field of development to practical application. On the basis of these startups, such sub-sectors of industry as the production of protein and vitamin concentrates of their own production, the production of vitamins, vaccines have begun to revive, the expert adds. This qualitative change creates the basis for further quantitative development.
In addition, the foundation of contract farming is being laid in many industries now – when large vertically integrated holdings order, for example, animal fattening.
“We are creating sprouts of what agricultural economists thought about 20 years ago, offering a system of contract farming that works all over the world and significantly facilitates the cash flow of large processing companies, and also creates jobs in rural areas not by hiring workers from abroad, namely local villagers,” – noted the expert.
Another major achievement of the domestic agro-industrial complex is export.
Last year, for the first time, Russia supplied more food than it imported. “This shows the competitiveness of our products, which again confirms a qualitative leap,” – said Albert Davleev.
“The price-quality ratio of our products has grown significantly, we see this for a number of products. More and more new countries are turning to us, who see us as an alternative supplier,” – stressed A.Davleev.
