The Russian Ministry of Agriculture summed up the results of a decade of agricultural development under counter-sanctions
This year marks 10 years since the food embargo was introduced by the Decree of the President of Russia dated August 6, 2014 No. 560 "On the application of certain special economic measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation." This period has become a landmark for the Russian agro-industrial complex, which has shown significant growth in production, widespread introduction of advanced technologies and ensured our country's leadership in the global food market in many key areas.
According to Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut, the trends of recent years characterize Russia's course towards intensive development of the agricultural sector and strengthening our position as a guarantor of global food security. "Today, we not only provide ourselves with all the main food products in the widest range, but also have one of the most competitive, flexible and technologically advanced markets in the world. Russian companies are capable of producing almost anything and adapting to any external conditions - this was well proven by the situation in 2022-2023, when a number of foreign brands left the country. As in 2014, the vacated niches were quickly occupied by domestic businesses, and consumers did not feel any changes," the head of the Ministry of Agriculture noted.
For 2014-2023, the actual growth of production in agriculture was 33.2%, and for food products - 42.9%. Sustainable development dynamics are characteristic of both the agro-industrial complex as a whole and its individual sectors.
The agricultural sector in the Republic of Tatarstan is developing rapidly, and currently the region is one of the leading among the subjects of the Russian Federation.
Tatarstan has more than 4.5 million hectares of agricultural land, of which 3.3 million hectares are arable land. The rural population is 930 thousand people, or every fourth resident of the republic. The industry employs about 140 thousand people or about 7% of the economically active population of the republic.
In general, in the agro-industrial complex, including the food industry, Tatarstan's share in the gross regional product is 6.5%.
In terms of agricultural production, the republic is among the top five leaders in Russia. With 2% of the country's agricultural land, it produces 3.5% of its agricultural products.
The republic is the undisputed leader in milk production among the subjects of the Russian Federation, more than 6% of all milk in the country.
We are also consistently among the TOP-10 producers of basic products such as meat, grain, potatoes, sugar beets and eggs.
Today, we provide the population of the republic with all basic food products in full.
Thanks to support measures, our enterprises have the opportunity for further growth and modernization, without which it is impossible to reach new levels.
The purchase of mineral fertilizers is subsidized from the republic's budget every year. Thanks to this, over 5 years it was possible to increase their application from 52 to 80 kg per hectare;
melioration and creation of irrigated lands are supported in various areas;
machinery and equipment is purchased annually for 12-13 billion rubles. A big incentive is the republican Program 70 to 30.
Within the framework of the program, more than 1.4 billion rubles are allocated from the republican budget to reimburse 30% of the cost of purchased equipment, priority in subsidizing is given to Russian-made equipment.
As a result of the systematic modernization of the machine and tractor fleet based on energy-saturated, high-performance equipment, the energy supply per 100 hectares of crops has increased over the past 5 years by 16 hp (from 164 to 181 hp).
Among the regions of the country, the republic occupies a leading position in the amount of investment costs and the number of purchased equipment.
We also managed to partially resolve the issue of import substitution of spare parts for agricultural machinery.
The task was set to place orders for their production at the enterprises of the republic in the shortest possible time.
As a result, today the production of more than 3 thousand types of spare parts has been mastered.
High results have also been achieved in animal husbandry. Thus, the production of cattle and poultry, compared to 2013, increased by 35.6% - from 12.2 million tons to 16.53 million tons. Including pigs - by 67.6% (from 3.6 million tons to 6.06 million tons), poultry - by 36.6% (from 5.2 million tons to 7.04 million tons).
Milk production increased by 13.2% (from 29.9 million tons to 33.8 million tons). Positive dynamics are largely due to the increase in the productivity of the dairy herd. Milk yield per cow in agricultural organizations increased by 80.7% and reached 8165 kg by the end of last year (in 2013 – 4519 kg).
An important factor in the growth of the livestock industry was the active construction of new, as well as the reconstruction and modernization of existing complexes – more than 3400 facilities in total. In dairy cattle breeding alone, 885 farms were updated during this time, and another 1433 facilities were built from scratch. This allowed the volume of milk production to increase by almost 3 million tons.
In Tatarstan, this industry is also showing dynamic growth. Support is provided for the development of livestock in all areas: from the acquisition of breeding cattle and the sale of livestock products to the construction of high-tech complexes and feed centers.
Over the past 3 years alone, 63 new dairy complexes for 43 thousand heads of cows have been commissioned. This has increased production by 248 thousand tons and exceeded the threshold of 2.0 million tons of milk per year.
Today, another 20 livestock facilities for 13.6 thousand heads are in the process of being implemented, this year the growth point will be 11 complexes for 6.6 thousand heads.
Breeding farms are able to provide the production capacities of existing and new dairy projects with heifers with high genetic potential.
The dynamic development of the domestic agro-industrial complex was the result of decisions that were taken by the state to protect and support Russian producers, as well as stimulate specific areas. "For example, thanks to the fact that at one time we sharply increased sunflower production and reoriented its supplies to the domestic market, our oil and fat industry took off. Today, our country covers its own needs for sunflower oil more than twice and is the second largest supplier of this product in the world. Similar trends are observed in many other segments. In recent years, we have seen a serious influx of investment into the industry. Entrepreneurs see the level of support for this sector, the opportunity to earn good money in a promising, growing market and invest significant funds in expanding and improving the efficiency of production," noted Oksana Lut.