The delegation of Tatarstan took part in the international conference on protective afforestation
More than 500 representatives of 35 regions of Russia, as well as Azerbaijan and China, visited the site of the largest scientific and practical conference “Agroforestry and protective afforestation - history and development prospects”, which was held in Volgograd at the Federal Scientific Center of Agroecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences from October 18 to 20.
The event was held with the active support of federal and regional executive and legislative authorities with the participation of Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation - special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on climate issues Ruslan Edelgeriev. The conference was attended by Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Petr Chekmarev, academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, leading scientists of Russia.
The conference was attended by a delegation from the Republic of Tatarstan, consisting of Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan Dmitry Yashin, Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Privolzhskmeliovodkhoz Management” Mars Khismatullin, Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution CAS “Tatarsky” Anas Lukmanov, Head of the Tatar Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture Fatikh Yanbaev.
At the conference, the country's leading experts presented scientific reports on the topics of desertification, forest reclamation, climate change, and conservation of biodiversity of agroforestry landscapes.
Mars Khismatullin made a presentation on the topic “Development of hydro-reclamation and agroforestry in the Republic of Tatarstan.” The representative of Tatarstan informed the participants of the scientific conference about the work being carried out in Tatarstan on the development of reclamation, deoxidation of acidic soils, as well as the development of reclamation science. As noted, thanks to this work, new irrigated lands are annually restored and introduced in the republic on an area of 5-6 thousand hectares, and liming is carried out on an area of 70-80 thousand hectares.
Separately, he touched upon the issues of agroforestry, and also spoke about priority areas of work to protect agricultural lands from wind and water erosion. As the scientist noted, the Republic of Tatarstan is currently paying special attention to the development of agroforestry, as the main one of the most environmentally friendly, cheap, reliable and long-lasting means of reclamation and land protection from degradation. There are 51 forest nurseries and a unique forest selection and seed production center in the Sabinsky district, which is the largest automated nursery in Europe. More than 35 million pieces are grown annually in nurseries in the region, including more than 12 million seedlings with a closed root system at the Sabinsky Seed Center, the survival rate of which reaches 95-99%. It was also noted that agroforestry measures are included in the list of activities of the Republican Program for Organic Agriculture, as one of the most effective, long-term measures, allowing to increase the productivity of fields protected by forest belts by 20-25% due to the reclamation effect.
Noting the contribution of the republic's reclamation service to the development of agroforestry, Mars Khismatullin emphasized that, as part of the implementation of targeted programs for the development of reclamation in the republic, work is underway to create protective forest plantations. Thanks to this work, forest belts are designed and planted annually on an area of more than 3,000 hectares. For this purpose, as part of the implementation of the republican target program for the development of land reclamation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food allocates 160-180 million rubles of targeted funding.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Tatarstan has developed measures of state support for farms that have developed scientifically based farming systems, namely: farms are reimbursed 80% for the creation of projects for agrolandscape farming systems, and financial support for 95% of costs is provided for the creation of shelter forest plantations.
During 2011-2022, the republic attracted 1,830 million rubles of investment for agroforestry, and planted protective forest belts on an area of 32 thousand hectares. “This made it possible to protect agricultural lands on an area of more than 130 thousand hectares from water and wind erosion, forming an anti-degradation ecological framework of the territory,” concluded the head of the federal reclamation service of Tatarstan.
As part of the business events of the forum, the implementation of the concluded agreements on the development of agroforestry, the implementation of the research work (R&D) “National Program of Action to Combat Desertification of the Republic of Tatarstan (NTAP R. Tatarstan)” in 2023 was discussed with the leadership of the Federal Scientific Center for Agroecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Agreement provides for the creation of a unified national system for monitoring climate-active substances in terms of expanding the system of climate and environmental monitoring and forecasting on the territory of the Russian Federation.