Marat Akhmetov: Spring field works in Tatarstan to be started in April

Today Marat Akhmetov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan – Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan, took part in the program “Topic of the day” with Leonid Tolchinskiy, Director General of the information agency “Tatar Inform”.

Answering the questions of the TV presenter, Marat Ahmetov told about spring field works 2016 and support for small enterprises in the village, etc.

“It was said that the spring would come early, but the cold has come back again. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, in the south of our country the spring field works started 2 weeks earlier than usual. In Tatarstan, taking into consideration the weather forecast for the nearest 10 days, the temperature below zero will last up to March 23. As the fields in the republic are covered with snow, it is not bad for us. In the first part of April we are going to start spring filed works on some fields, in the south, and in the north we will start only after March 20”, said the minister of agriculture and food of the republic of Tatarstan.

“There is enough moisture in the soil this year, in some districts it is over 200 mm. This is productive moisture, which will benefit the harvest”, noted the minister.

“Agricultural producers are supplied with seeds. Beside this, this year directors of agricultural enterprises, investors are working harder to get subsidized loans for the sowing campaign”, said Marat Akhmetov.

Speaking about the support of small businesses, Marat Akhemtov noted that there are about 4,900 peasant farm enterprises in the republic, where over 1,000 of them are family farms, and there are over 400,000 private subsidiary plots, which produce over a half of the total agricultural products of the republic.

Among different kinds of support for small businesses there are subsidized loans with the lowered interest rates, cost cutting on purchasing of cattle, technological equipment, reconstruction of access roads, etc.

“We are actively working with the programs “Development of family farms” and “Support of young farmers”, emphasized Marat Akhmetov.

Since 2016 the program “Development of agricultural consumer cooperation in the Republic of Tatarstan 2015-2017” is being implemented, beside this, there is the program “Leasing grant”, subsidies for purchasing of heifers, construction of mini dairy farms, etc. Law of the Republic of Tatarstan №3-ЗРТ dated by January 12, 2016 “State support of development of private subsidiary plots on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan” was also adopted.