On his arrival in Samara, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov inspected the operation of the Povolzhskaya Machinery Testing Station, one of Russia's leaders in the field. The station specialises in testing tractors, combine harvesters, soil-processing and sowing machines, irrigation equipment, and machines for mechanised work in plant growing, livestock breeding, and poultry, as well as light equipment for processing agricultural produce.
In Samara, Zubkov met with the heads of farms that had received a 50% discount on the purchase of agricultural equipment from Rosagroleasing. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took this additional measure of support for Russian agricultural producers at the March 2 congress of the Russian Association of Farm Holdings and Agricultural Cooperatives in the Tambov Region. The government earmarked 3.7 billion roubles for this purpose. This will allow agricultural producers to use more than 6,500 additional units of equipment during spring sowing. Small farms will receive the lion's share of the equipment.
Zubkov continued an ongoing discussion about technological modernisation in agriculture at Eurotechnika, one of Russia's leading companies in the production of equipment for cultivating grain, oil-producing plants, potatoes, and sugar beets on the basis of modern, resource-conserving technology.
By the end of his visit, Zubkov took part in the work of the Council of the Regional Heads of the Volga Federal District. Participants in the meeting discussed issues pertaining to spring field work and the development of livestock farming in the district's respective regions.
In his speech at the meeting, Zubkov said, in part: "The issues that we discuss with you today are especially urgent for the Volga regions, which were among the hardest hit by last summer's drought. The district's agricultural production has decreased by a quarter. This is double the national average. Crops were destroyed on nine million hectares, accounting for 67% of all burnt crops in Russia. All in all, 43 regions were damaged by the drought. Grain production fell to 37% less than in the previous year.
"Nevertheless, the joint support of the government and the regions, along with the persistent work of agricultural producers, made it possible to preserve the financial stability of most companies despite these arduous conditions, prevent the collapse of the food market, and lay the foundation for successful spring sowing.
"I'd like to take this opportunity to thank agricultural producers and the heads of the district's regions for this work.
"Now our goal is to conduct a well-organised and effective spring sowing campaign. Its results will considerably influence the provision of the domestic market with grain and fodder. Areas sown with winter crops have been reduced by 18% or 3.3 million hectares. In the Volga District, the relevant figure is even higher: winter crops have not been sown on 30% of the land. It is necessary to substantially increase the areas being sown with spring crops because a portion of the winter crops will not survive.
"An increase in the scale of spring sowing will require considerable financial and material resources: seeds, equipment, fuel and lubricants, mineral fertilisers, and loans. The government is keeping these issues under constant surveillance.
"This year, it has allocated 125 billion roubles from the federal budget for implementing the state programme, including an additional one billion roubles for the purchase of seeds and another billion for mineral fertilisers.
"According to recent data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, the country is provided with 99% of its grain seeds. The Centrosoyuz (Central Union of Consumer Cooperatives) has also been instructed to supply personal households and farms with planting potatoes and is working on this.
"The agreement between the Association of Fertiliser Producers and Agrompromsoyuz (the Agro-Industrial Association) regulates the supply of mineral fertilisers. They agreed that price hikes should not exceed 12.8%. For the most part, producers are abiding by this figure, but sometimes intermediaries considerably increase consumer prices at the local level. I'd like to emphasise to the heads of the regions that such practices are impermissible. The regions must conclude agreements with fertiliser producers on fixed prices and volumes.
"The government has passed a resolution on a 10% discount on fuel and lubricants. We have seen it in practice at today's meeting with the Samara Region's agricultural producers. For the Volga District, the recommended amount of discounted fuel will be about a million tonnes this year. The majority of the regions have already signed agreements on discounted fuel and lubricants deliveries with oil companies. The rest should follow suit in the near future.
"The leading banks have reserved loans for the spring sowing campaign. They have established competitive rates and conditions for short-term loans. Thus, Rosselkhozbank is granting loans at 10% annual interest, 8.5% for six months, and 7.75% for three months.
"About 83% of agricultural equipment is ready for spring sowing. The relevant figure for the Volga Federal District is the same. The technical re-equipment of agriculture, primarily with resource-conserving technology, is one of the main instruments for raising its efficiency. The federal budget has allocated more than eight billion roubles for technical modernisation this year. In addition, the government has earmarked 3.7 billion roubles to Rosagroleasing to speed up this process by the beginning of spring field work. This will allow agricultural producers to buy more than 6,500 units of equipment at half price. This is the first time such a support measure has been carried out. Small farms will be given priority in buying equipment. This is the direct instruction of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Within this framework, the heads of the regions will endorse lists of equipment recipients in coordination with the Russian Association of Farm Holdings and Agricultural Cooperatives. Today we met with the heads of companies that have already taken advantage of this measure.
"Rosselkhozbank (Russian Agricultural Bank) no longer has restrictions on the issue of loans for the purchase of foreign equipment, but this process will not be subsidised. This is the government's position of principle.
"The prime minister has instructed relevant government bodies to draft a programme for scrapping old agricultural equipment that should start next year. Its parameters are now being considered. This is an important programme for the Volga Federal Dictrict, which produces a third of all Russian agricultural machinery. I'd like you to pay special attention to higher assembly localisation.
"The government is giving priority to the development of small farms in the countryside.
"On February 15, we discussed priority issues with the farmers of the Samara Region and Tatarstan. On March 2, Putin instructed the national congress of farmers to resolve them. This concerns the reimbursement of farmers for half of their expenses in privatising plots of land, the extension of the programme for family dairy farms until 2020, the provision of farmers with housing, changes in the payment procedure for electric energy (additional payments on insufficient or excessive quotas will be restricted), and support for farmers specialising in orchards and vineyards (this currently applies also to orchards occupying less than 50 hectares).
"The government is paying special attention to livestock breeding, a traditional industry in the Volga District. In addition to the current directions for its support, the government has allocated five billion roubles to those regions that preserved their cattle populations last year. This applies to five regions in the Volga Federal District – Mordovia, Chuvashia, Samara, Saratov, and Ulyanovsk. The government has signed the relevant resolution, and the regions will receive this support in the near future.
"Pig and poultry breeding will also receive targeted support – 2.3 million tonnes of forage grain will be offered at discounted prices (4,550 roubles for a tonne of forage wheat and 4,200 roubles for a tonne of barley).
"In line with the prime minister's instructions, specialists are considering the additional grant of up to 12.5 billion roubles from the federal budget to support the production of pork and poultry.
"Such support measures are increasing the responsibility of the heads of the regions for prices on the food market.
"Amendments to the Law on Veterinary Service became valid on January 1. They enhance the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and the heads of the regions for veterinary wellbeing. Delegated legislation for its implementation has already been endorsed at the federal level. Now the regions must ensure the timely adoption of regional acts and the coordination of work between veterinary and other relevant services.
"This is particularly important for the Volga Federal District, which has one third of Russia's cows and a quarter of its pigs. I'd like the heads of the regions to pay special attention to veterinary services and take preemptive measures in this respect.
"The heads of the regions must also create the conditions for attracting investment in agriculture.
"In this context, I'd like to recall that the prime minister has endorsed a list of priority investment projects for the Volga Federal District on February 14 of this year. These include five agrarian projects (poultry farms in the Republics of Mary El and Tatarstan, the Novaya Derevnya (New Village) agro-industrial complex in the Ulyanovsk Region, a milk processing farm in the Kirov Region, and meat production and processing in Udmurtia). I'd like the heads of the regions to report to me about the progress of work on these projects and their problems, if any.
"I am confident that today's discussion will allow the federal and regional authorities to make their cooperation more effective."
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Presidential Envoy in the Volga Federal District Grigory Rapota, heads of the Volga District regions, Rosselkhozbank Board Chairman Dmitry Patrushev, Rosagroleasing CEO Valery Nazarov, President of the Russian Association of Farm Holdings and Agricultural Cooperatives Vladimir Plotnikov, representatives of agro-industrial businesses, and experts on agriculture took part in the meetings during Zubkov's visit.