Marat Zyabbarov: "Our goal is not just to increase the area under industrial hemp cultivation, but also to create a full processing cycle."
Today, the Ministry held a meeting on the cultivation and processing of industrial hemp in the Republic of Tatarstan, chaired by Marat Zyabbarov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan and Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister Dmitry Yashin, Denis Samodurov, CEO of JSC Racin, Denis Tuntsev, Head of the Department of Chemical Cybernetics at KNITU, Nafis Zakirov, Head of the Government Relations Service at PJSC Tatneft, Marat Shafiev, Head of the Agricultural Department at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, Eduard Yunusov, founder of AF Tugan-yak - Rodnye Kray, Bulat Galiev, Director of Agroinntech, and Alexander Tkachev, Director of First Hemp Trust.
In the Republic of Tatarstan, the area under industrial hemp this year amounted to 5,250 hectares, 1,741 hectares more than last year. Across the Russian Federation as a whole, the area under industrial hemp is 16,000 hectares.
Currently, projects for cultivation and processing are being implemented in the republic by enterprises of PJSC Tatneft named after V.D. Shashin, JSC Tatneftekhiminvest Holding in conjunction with Agroinntech LLC, Agrofirma Rodnye Kray - Tugan Yak LLC, First Hemp Trust LLC, as well as a project in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone.
According to Marat Zyabbarov, last year's gross hemp straw harvest in the republic amounted to 3,600 tons, or 23% of the Russian Federation's total, with an average yield of 21 centners per hectare. Fiber yield reached 48%, amounting to 1,800 tons.
"Our goal is not only to increase the area under industrial hemp cultivation but also to establish a full processing cycle," the minister noted.
The development of modern technologies for the deep processing of industrial hemp, producing marketable processed products to ensure Russia's technological sovereignty, is being carried out in support of the national project "Bioeconomics."