Marat Zyabbarov: We are interested in our farmers’ production being maximally represented on store shelves
Today, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan - Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan Marat Zyabbarov held a meeting on the promotion of agricultural products of Tatarstan in retail chains. The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade German Lerner, Chairman of the Halal Standard Committee of the RTUM RTM Irek Ziganshin, leading retail companies X5 Retail Group, Tander LLC (Magnet), Lenta Shopping Center, Zelgros Shopping Center ", LLC" Bechetle ", JSC" TC "Edelweiss" and agricultural producers of Tatarstan.
Marat Zyabbarov opened the event by announcing that the goal of today's meeting was to help agricultural producers to sell their products through large regional and federal chains. He asked the meeting participants to actively engage in the conversation and ask questions. “We must hear each other and build a dialogue for further fruitful cooperation,” added the head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Tatarstan.
The First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan Nail Zalakov reported on the current situation in the production of agricultural and food products.
Over the past year, the value of gross agricultural output in all categories amounted to more than 250.8 billion rubles. About 1.8 million tons of milk, 500 thousand tons of cattle and poultry, 4.5 million tons of grain, 2.8 thousand tons of sugar beets, 1.2 million tons of potatoes, 330 thousand tons of vegetables were produced.
“In the food and processing industry, which is most interesting for retail chains, we also have significant growth. Among them ther is an increase in production of: beef (74.1%), processed and canned fish (47.1%), cereals (31.5%), butter (33%), dairy products ( 21%). The production of cottage cheese (12.4%), pork (11%), processed milk, including milk for baby food (10.5%), and confectionery products (9.7%) increased, ”Nail Zalakov noted, noting the volume of production of finished products increases annually and the main task is to bring it to consumers.
German Lerner spoke about the share of republican products in the total volume sold in retail chains and the implementation of measures to promote it. He also recommended that manufacturers of products use the logo of the 100th anniversary of the TASSR, and retail chains should allocate separate shelves with the logo.
The representative of X5 Retail Group Timur Baimullin spoke about the features of the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel retail chains that are part of the group with regional suppliers and recommended starting with sending a commercial proposal in the form proposed on the company's website. Representatives of the Magnit, Lenta, Zelgros, Bechetle and Edelweiss retail chains also spoke about entry and trade conditions.
Farmers of Tatarstan also shared their experience with trading networks. Ramil Yarullin, the chairman of SPPC Zagotovitel from Laishevsky District, who is engaged in the production of natural herbal teas, spoke about his own experience of joining regional and then federal networks. “We started access to retail chains from the Behetle supermarket. Here we met the most loyal approach to Tatarstan agricultural producers. Then we moved also to all other trading networks. To do this, I had to radically change the packaging of products, their design, review logistics and even production processes within the company, but the result of this work was that today our products are successfully sold in more than 30 thousand stores”, Ramil Yarullin shared.
The chairman of the agricultural cooperative Ramilya Shchukina spoke about the products and the difficulties of the novice farmers. Despite the fact that the cooperative has been operating for a year, it already unites 5 peasant farms and 255 private farms, the farm has more than 150 cattle, a slaughterhouse, processing and manufacturing lines for semi-finished products. “A significant impetus to the development of the agricultural cooperative received thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan received in 2019. With these funds, a modular meat processing unit was purchased and the production of semi-finished products, which are now in demand at fairs in the Apastovsky, Kaybitsky districts of Tatarstan and Chuvashia, began”, said Ramilya Shchukina.
Further, the participants went on to a more detailed discussion of supply issues in the format of questions and answers, and also had the opportunity to communicate individually with representatives of retail chains.
“We are interested in our farmers’ production being maximally represented on store shelves,” said the Deputy Prime Minister, closing the meeting.