Government Session

On October 9, the minister of agriculture of the Russian Federation Nikolai Fedorov reported on the preliminary results of harvesting 2014 and the forecast for seasonal field works 2015 at the government session.

The minister informed that the harvesting campaign 2014 is finishing on the territory of our country. 90.1% of the land with grains and pulses have been harvested. 101.7 million tons of crops have been milled (in 2013 82.4 million tons were milled). The average crop yield is 25 dt/ha which is by 2.9 dt/ha more than it was last year.

According to the data of regional AIC administrations, the gross crop yield is forecasted to be 110.9 million tons in the current year. This is the second best result after the record of 2008.

On the territory of Russia the harvesting of corn and rice is going on (52.5% and 65.9% of land have been harvested correspondingly).

87.1% of land with potato have been harvested (5.5 million tons) which is twice more than it was last year. Vegetables have been harvested on the territory of 73.9% (gross yield exceeded 2.8 million tons) which is by 1.5 million tons more than it was last year.

The minster informed that a record output of soya beans and rape is expected this year.

Currently the sowing campaign 2015 is being carried out. 16.5 million ha are forecasted to be sowed with winter crops, which is by 0.5 million ha more than it was last year. In total 13.6 million ha have been sowed in Russia (in 2013 only 9.1 million ha were sowed).

This year it is necessary to buy 2.6 million tons of fertilizers to carry out seasonal fieldworks.

Nikolai Fedorov emphasized that it is necessary to buy at least 20,000 trucks, 8,000 harvester threshers and 2,000 forage harvesters annually to carry out agricultural works successfully. Moreover, development of industrial crops production alongside with modern technologies require broadening of a special agricultural equipment range.

The ministry of agriculture of the Russian Federation together with local AIC administrative bodies prepared a forecast for the structure of harvesting lands. It is forecasted that in 2015 the total harvesting area will be 79.4 million ha.

The minister also reported on the allocations from the state budget for refunding of direct costs for agricultural producers suffered from the flood in some regions of the Russian Federation. The source of financial support is considered to be the funds of the state special purpose program on agricultural development (25.9 million robles).

After the government session had been finished, the minister answered the questions of reporters.