Sustainable development of rural regions of the Russian Federation

On April 21, as a part of a joint session of the Upper Chamber and the President’s Council on carrying-out of priority national projects and demographic policy, Nikolai Fedorov – Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation – gave a speech on the issues of sustainable development of rural regions. The session was chaired by Vladimir Putin.

Opening the session, President of the Russian Federation stated that rural regions had great economical, demographic, natural and historical-cultural potential. He also noted that our aim was to use it efficiently for the benefit of the whole country and in order to improve the quality of life of Russian citizens.

The federal minister emphasized an important role of rural regions and noted that it was rural area that not only feeds the country but also preserves our national culture which is the basis of the Russian separate identity. That is why the support of rural regions in Russia is important not only from the economical point of view, but is our duty as well.

Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation gave characteristics to the major strands and results of the state policy in the sphere of sustainable development of rural regions. He also spoke the aim of the federal special-purpose program “Social development of rural territories 2013” and the priority national project “Development of AIC” regarding production empowerment and development of infrastructure potential of rural regions, development of their economics, boosting employment and increasing of income of rural population, housing improvement and improvement of social infrastructure in villages.

Owing to the federal special-purpose program “Social development of rural territories 2013” 265,700 village families, including 91,700 young families and young specialists, have improved their living conditions. The number of houses with the gas system has risen twice in villages while the number of people having access to drinking water has risen 1.5 times.

The head of the agrarian department noted the positive impact of the increased standard and quality of living of rural population on the demographic situation in rural regions – life expectancy has risen to 68.6 years old.

During the session the following problems were outlined: the unemployment level in villages stays almost twice higher than in cities; in villages the salary in the sphere of agriculture is just 50% of the average salary in the sphere of economics; the rates of the development of village cooperation are not very high; the rural economy is diversified, but the potential of territories is not used in full; there are still some unsolved problems of transport accessibility to villages.

This year a new federal special-purpose program “Sustainable development of rural territories 2014-2017 and through 2020” has started. Owing to this program the regions of the Russian Federation will get additional opportunities to promote rural development. The new program gives the chance to get grants to support local initiatives on such projects as building parks, public gardens, recreation sites, playgrounds, as well as on the improvement of landscape and restoration of historical-cultural monuments.

Nikolai Fedorov informed the participants of the session that the work to include the Crimea into the federal special-purpose program “Sustainable development of rural territories” is being carried out. Moreover program development on land-clearing of the Crimea is finishing. The program is very important for agriculture of the republic.

Speaking about the problems of roads in rural regions, Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation suggested including road construction into the program of sustainable development of rural territories. He offered to remove restrictions of 5 km and 125 people and to allow road construction to the facilities of agricultural industries, having made all legislative changes.

Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation emphasized that it was necessary to extend boundaries of policy making in the sphere of sustainable development of rural regions through 2030. In addition to that, the performance targets of the Strategy should be set so as to get accessibility to social service for rural population.

In his report Mr Fedorov recommended the governors to redouble attention to the issues of rural development and suggested to take into consideration the results of rural development while assessing the performance effectiveness of heads of the executive authority supreme bodies of Russian constituent entities.

“Rural development is the term of reference and the area of responsibility of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Nevertheless a range of federal programs helps them. However the regions take both this responsibility and the aid differently”, noted Minister.

At the end of his speech Mr Fedorov stated the tasks to solve the existing problems and improve the mechanisms of policy implementation in order to provide sustainable development of rural regions. “The country is very strong if its farmers, stock-breeders and fishermen live and work under good conditions. To create such conditions is our priority”, summed up the federal minister.

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation