In his introductory remarks, Mr Zubkov said, in part:

"We have several items on today's agenda. The first concerns programmes for the development of greenhouse vegetable growing and horticulture through 2020. Greenhouse vegetable growing has become extremely topical given the current trend of imports from Europe. Mr Onishchenko is in permanent contact with his European colleagues. Please, don't let this issue fall through the cracks. What matters most is a 100% safety guarantee because our citizens' health is our top priority.

Russia possesses unique natural benefits for the purposes of environmentally clean agricultural production. This holds true for the topics that we are discussing today. Moreover, the government has provided start-up conditions for horticulture and effective greenhouse growing. The interest on short-term and investment loans is subsidised. Support is being given for the purchase of mineral fertiliser and plant-protecting agents, and farming equipment can be leased.

Household plots account for up to 48% of commodity farming. The Law on Small Holdings was recently amended to promote this activity by exempting subsistence farms from income taxes. Similar amendments have been drawn for all private farms on the prime minister's order.

The new state programme must include approaches and mechanisms encouraging regional authorities, garden and greenhouse proprietors, and farming cooperatives to actively introduce energy-efficient equipment and greenhouse systems, including foreign-manufactured ones, and establish state-of-the-art storage and processing facilities. Some of them might be owned collectively. These innovations promise to double the profitability of commodity gardening to 55-60%, and accelerate the enhancement of the cooperative network with an emphasis on procurement. They also promote the production of Russian seed for use in greenhouses and saplings that have adapted to various climatic conditions throughout Russia.

The Ministry of Agriculture was ordered to submit coordinated departmental development programmes for these subsectors of the agro-industrial complex. We will analyse their basic parameters today. When you hear the report, please pay special attention to the sources of their funding, feasibility studies, and goal-oriented programme indicators.

As we determine programme expenditures, we should proceed from the basic approaches to the budget that we developed for the next year and those following, which Prime Minister Putin spoke about yesterday.

The Ministry of Agriculture proposes that we perform a preliminary estimate of the programme's outcomes in terms of the pace of crop area extension, land productivity, and gross yields. These indices should be complemented by figures on per capita consumption of Russian-grown greenhouse vegetables and fruits, the marketability of small gardens and orchards, the supply and demand balance, and the availability of storage facilities.

Another item on our agenda concerns the implementation of the federal targeted programme for the social development of the countryside through 2013 and its prospects through 2020.

This is a much-needed programme. Even during last year's great drought, its funding from regional budgets and extra-budgetary sources exceeded federal grants more than threefold. A majority of programme targets have been met, and the most critical were even exceeded. These include general housing construction (27%), housing for young families (9,000 in total) (14%), the construction of gas networks (105%), the distribution of potable water (102%), and general utilities distribution (34%).

The new state programme for the development of the agro-industrial complex up to 2020 (inclusive) has higher rural living standards among its top priorities.

The long-term concept of sustainable development of rural areas, recently endorsed by the government, includes guidelines for the social development of the countryside through 2020. The Ministry of Agriculture has submitted proposals on the general funding of these sectors. I'd like to know to what extent the ministry takes them into account when considering its budgetary plans, paying special attention to the effectiveness of the funding in question.

The federal targeted programme for the social development of the countryside up to 2020 should include a clause on the coordination of activities by federal agencies responsible for the various aspects of rural life. This clause must be made public, particularly in connection with the Russian Agrarian Movement.

I also believe that it is necessary to establish a working group under our commission for higher living standards in the countryside.

We will also have one of our regular discussions on measures to eliminate the spread of the African Swine Plague, which are taken by an HQ headed by the minister of agriculture.

Over the last month, the situation has not improved. The Krasnodar Territory has the greatest number of hotbeds (five), followed by the Tver Region with four. Amendments to the Law on Veterinary Medicine authorise the Ministry of Agriculture to introduce quarantines and take other measures to bring the ASP epidemic under control.

I would like you to report on how this new authority is being used, what form the struggle against ASP is taking, and which documents have been adopted.

The commission ordered the elaboration of measures for the support of pig farms that choose to shift to the breeding of other animals. Please report on how the losses and extra expenditures of private farmers and agricultural organisations will be reimbursed according to the plan. I would like to emphasise that such shifts must be thoroughly calculated and backed with economic incentives. Stock breeders must be entitled to relevant compensations. I ask the Ministry of Agriculture to analyse the impact of such shifts on the correlation of meat production and consumption by region. I repeat that administrative measures are not effective in such instances."