Dmitry Patrushev outlined the main measures to support farmers during the spring field work
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with members of the Government, during which Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev made a report "On Supporting Agricultural Producers during the Spring Field Work".
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture reported on the current situation regarding the provision of agricultural products and food and noted that the domestic market is stable, there are no sharp price hikes, including for those commodity items for which increased demand is recorded. Dmitry Patrushev emphasized that in general, stocks of agricultural products and food, including grain, are sufficient in the Russian Federation and there is no shortage expected.
According to the Minister, today the sowing has entered its active phase - the machinery has already entered the fields in 17 regions. According to current information, the work is going on regularly, farmers have no problems with basic resources. In particular, the need for seeds is completely closed. Since the beginning of the year, about 1.4 million tons of mineral fertilizers have been purchased - this is 366 thousand tons more than at the same date last year. The readiness of equipment is 88%, and one hundred percent readiness will be provided on time. Fuel stocks are higher than last year, and fuel prices are stable.
Currently, over 700 thousand ha are sown with spring crops. In general, the sown area in 2020 will increase by 790 thousand ha to 80.3 million ha, including 52 million ha of spring crops. 94.5% of winter crops are in good and satisfying condition.
In mid-December last year, the Ministry of Agriculture sent an amount of budgetary allocations planned for 2020 to the regions – this is 103.9 billion rubles. At the moment, the pace of bringing directly to agricultural producers is one and a half times higher than last year, and it will increase as subjects are involved in spring field work. “The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia is constantly improving state support tools, which is one of the most important conditions for high-quality sowing. Therefore, we are constantly monitoring the optimization of mechanisms and accelerating the delivery of funds to final recipients”, said the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Support for technical modernization of the industry continues. In 2020, farmers plan to purchase 56 thousand units of agricultural machinery and equipment, which is 14% more than in 2019.
As the main financial instrument, Dmitry Patrushev called soft loans. The availability of credit resources contributed to the fact that all the necessary material and technical resources were purchased by farmers in advance. In 2020, 90.9 billion rubles have been allocated to support these subsidies, which is 24.73 billion rubles more than last year. At the same time, the improvement of the mechanism of soft loans continues. In particular, at the request of agricultural producers in 2020, the maximum size of a short-term loan per one borrower was adjusted – depending on the region, its volume can reach 600 million rubles.
Among the priorities of the department, Dmitry Patrushev named support for the development of agricultural insurance. According to the results of last year, the volume of insured areas amounted to 4.3 million hectares – this is three times more than a year earlier.
In conclusion, Dmitry Patrushev noted that the sowing depends on well-coordinated work at all levels and favorable weather. At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia together with the regions resolves all the necessary issues in an operational mode.