As part of the exhibition "All-Russian Field Day - 2023", a plenary session "The functioning of domestic crop production under sanctions pressure" was held
Today, the agro-industrial complex of Tatarstan is a modern high-tech industry with good development potential. This was stated today by Rais of the Republic Rustam Minnikhanov at the plenary session "Functioning of domestic crop production under sanctions pressure." The event was held as part of the All-Russian Field Day 2023 exhibition. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Dmitry Patrushev, State Counselor of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev, representatives of federal departments, state companies, industry unions, science and business.
Rustam Minnikhanov stressed that Tatarstan is one of the country's leaders in agricultural production. Last year, its volume exceeded 334 billion rubles. In general, the republic, having 2% of the country's agricultural land, produces almost 4% of its agricultural products. Among the regions in 2022, Tatarstan ranks first in milk production, second in potato harvest, and is also in the top ten in meat, egg, grain and sugar beet production.
The Republic has successfully completed the sowing campaign - 2.7 million hectares were sown with high quality seeds, including new varieties. Much work is being done to increase the share of domestic selection. “For this purpose, 50 seed farms and 4 seed plants are operating in the republic. Our research centers are also involved in the work. The results of their work can be seen on the experimental fields of today's exhibition,” Rustam Minnikhanov said.
Rais of Tatarstan also noted the importance of attracting students to science. For this, the Kazan Agrarian University is building "AgroBioTechnopark" at the expense of republican funds. Experimental fields on 200 hectares have been created here, and a modern scientific and laboratory base has been formed. This center will allow students to be taught directly on the field, and not just in classrooms.
Particular attention is paid to improving soil fertility. Rustam Minnikhanov drew attention to the fact that if in 2018 the republic contributed 52 kg. active substance per hectare, then this year it is already 82 kg. He thanked the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation for maintaining prices for fertilizers at the level of last year. More than 1 billion rubles are annually allocated from the republic's budget for the purchase of fertilizers.
“Tatarstan is a zone of risky agriculture. Unfavorable weather conditions are also developing in the republic this year. To reduce their consequences, we are actively developing land reclamation. About 500 million rubles are annually allocated for these purposes from the budget of the republic. In general, over the past 5 years, more than 6 billion rubles have been attracted for these purposes, and the area of land under irrigation in the republic has increased to 34 thousand hectares,” Rustam Minnikhanov emphasized.
Today there are almost 1 million heads of cattle and more than 17 million heads of poultry in the republic. According to Rustam Minnikhanov, such a population provides guaranteed sales of over 2.5 million tons of grain annually. About 2 million more tons of grain are shipped outside the republic.
To ensure high-quality logistics in Tatarstan, an elevator is being built on the territory of the Sviyazhsk multimodal logistics center. It will transship about 500 thousand tons of grain annually and is ready to ship products through the new North-South transport corridor. Also, the construction of an elevator was started in Bugulma - also for 500 thousand tons.
Rustam Minnikhanov noted that systematic work on the development of the agro-industrial complex allows the republic to fully provide itself with the main types of products, as well as export them to 54 countries.
The priorities for the development of the industry were outlined by the Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev. He said that in 2022 Russia harvested a record 157.7 million tons of grain, 29.1 million tons of oilseeds, 7.2 million tons of vegetables and 1.7 million tons of fruit and berry crops.
The state program "Earth" is being successfully implemented, within the framework of which in 2022-2023 about 800 thousand hectares of agricultural lands were put into circulation, 36 digital maps-schemes of agricultural lands of subjects were created, 34 reclamation facilities in federal ownership were updated. Thus, a significant increase in yields is recorded in irrigated areas: for soybeans an increase is 73%, for corn - 70%, for potatoes - 52%, for open ground vegetables - 50%.
Separately, the minister spoke about state support for farmers. Thus, there are tools for crop production within the framework of compensatory and incentive subsidies, as well as funds to support vegetable and potato growing. If in 2022 19.7 billion rubles were allocated for these purposes, then already in this year - 24.2 billion rubles.
Farmers can take advantage of preferential loans. In 2022, contracts for 560 billion rubles were signed in the field of crop production, and loans for 237 billion rubles were approved this year.
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture said that last year's record grain harvest had a negative impact on profitability. It was decided to purchase 3 million tons of grain for the intervention fund. Also to subsidize the transportation of products by rail for 2022-2023 11.3 billion rubles were allocated. For 2 years, grain producers received support for 40 billion rubles.
Dmitry Patrushev also outlined the strategic tasks of crop production: the development of breeding, further renewal of the agricultural machinery fleet, in particular, increasing the share of domestic machines, stabilizing the fertilizer market, as well as integrating new regions into agricultural production.
During the discussion, Rustam Minnikhanov said that much attention is paid to the technical modernization of the agro-industrial complex in the republic. Since 2012, a republican program has been implemented, under which agricultural organizations purchased 28 thousand units of agricultural machinery for 60 billion rubles. Every year, 1.8 billion rubles are allocated from the budget of the republic for the renewal of the fleet of vehicles.
Rais of the republic especially noted the contribution of Rosagroleasing to the process of updating equipment. The preferential programs implemented by the company allow Tatarstan farmers to purchase about a thousand pieces of equipment annually. These federal and republican support measures made it possible to increase the energy supply of the agro-industrial complex to 178 hp. per 100 ha.
According to Rustam Minnikhanov, agricultural machinery enterprises are successfully operating in Tatarstan. These are Agromaster, Kazanselmash and Kazan Plant of Irrigation Equipment. In addition, in cooperation with Belarusian partners, the assembly of MTZ equipment was launched on the territory of Alabuga. The presence of such enterprises in the republic makes equipment for the villagers more accessible and efficient in operation.