Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan participated in the roundtable discussion at the newspaper editorial office “Vatanym Tatarstan”

Today the roundtable discussion “How to preserve the village spirit and image?” took place in the newspaper editorial office “Vatanym Tatarstan”.

The following officials took place at the session: deputy prime minister of the republic of Tatarstan – minister of agriculture and food of the republic of Tatarstan Marat Akhmetov, deputy of the state council of the republic of Tatarstan, chairman of the committee of the state council of the republic of Tatarstan in the sphere of culture, science, education and national issues Razil Valeev, deputy of the state council of the republic of Tatarstan, chairman of the executive board of the international Tatar congress Rinat Zakirov, head of Kshlkovskoe village in Atnya municipal district of the republic of Tatarstan Rakhina Shakirova.

The roundtable discussion was headed by Minazim Sepperov, chief editor of the newspaper “Vatanym Tatarstan”.

Within the framework of the meeting the issues concerning the decrease of the number of villages and village population were discussed.

There are 134,000 villages in Russia, where 3,073 villages are situated in Tatarstan. According to the census, the population of the Russian Federation decreased by 2.3 million people in the period form 2002 until 2010, 8,500 villages disappeared.

In 2002 there were 3,081 villages in Tatarstan, in 2010 there were 3073 villages. The situation in the republic is more stable in comparison with other regions.

Different programs on village development, including programs of business development in the village, are being implemented in the republic. Village population is taking part in these programs. “In the village people are ready to help each other, to support each other. This is an old tradition. Rural life will never disappear”, - said Marat Akhmetov.