Transcript of the beginning of the meeting: 

Vladimir Putin: Mrs Skrynnik, lets' talk about the results of the harvesting campaign, we already have the general picture of what we achieved in 2009.

Let's also return to the issue of supporting those farms that suffered as the result of climate problems such as droughts, remember we visited several such farms. Please, go ahead.

Yelena Skrynnik: Mr Putin, as of today, we have harvested a total of 93 million tons of grain in processed, packaged weight.  Of 93 million tons, 58 million was wheat.

We are also meeting demand from the livestock industry as well as household consumption. And we have retained our export potential, which we estimate at 19 million tons. Last year, it was 23 million tons.

Vladimir Putin: So, the harvests have been completed...

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes, 93 million tons.

Vladimir Putin: Ninety-three: that's almost 10 million more than you planned, right?

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: You said it would be around 85-86 million tons.

Yelena Skrynnik: We planned 85, but thanks to government support, we were able to achieve better figures.

First of all, regarding the drought. Under your direction, we issued loan extensions worth 1.5 billion roubles in total. More loans were extended for three years, than for one year: this depended on the agricultural organisation's particular activities and needs. Those solely engaged in plant growing had their loans extended for three years.

Vladimir Putin: Just as we agreed. We talked about this right there in the field.

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes. And the farmers were very pleased that we are supporting them.

Then we prolonged leasing payments, totalling 1.2 billion roubles, for one year. In terms of loans, we allocated 1.5 billion roubles. And we extended loans taken out by 266 agricultural organisations.

In addition, in line with your instruction, Russian regions were given access to 0% state loans. One example of this is Saratov Region, which was granted a loan of 800 million roubles.

Additionally, we spent a total of 33 billion roubes on supporting plant growing by subsidizing interest rates, and supporting elite seed growing and fertilizer purchase. Therefore, all these measures enabled us to achieve the rather impressive figure of 93 million tons.

Vladimir Putin: This is really a success given how dry this year has been. It really is a success. And all those people labouring away in all those villages, as they say, should be congratulated. I thank everyone from the bottom of my hearts.

Yelena Skrynnik: Thank you, Mr Putin.

Vladimir Putin: It is a good result.

Yelena Skrynnik: We also put our grain intervention policy into practice. We buy grain exclusively from agricultural producers: 2,000 agricultural organisations have been accredited. Last year, sadly, there were only 200. So in other words, they've increased tenfold.

In addition, 36 remote sales points are operational. In other words, in the regions, our agricultural organisations can be involved in selling their grain. Today, the average price paid by the Intervention Fund is 4000 roubles. Therefore, with a prime cost of 3500 roubles, I think this gives our agricultural organisations a decent profit margin.

We are also exporting grain, and should be able to meet our forecast of 19 million tons (last year it was 23 million tons).

And in accordance with your directive, we are working on a programme to develop the infrastructure of the grain market, in order to build up our export potential.

These are our successes.

And in addition, this year we had our largest-ever rice harvest - 976,000 tons.

Vladimir Putin: So we'll buy less imported rice.

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes. In other words, we have reduced import volume by 30%. And we'll continue to grow. Again, this is due to government support: we supported mother seed production, supported rice growers with loans and also implemented a balanced customs-tariff policy.

Vladimir Putin: This is in the South of our country, isn't it?

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes, in the South. The main producer is, of course, Krasnodar.

Vladimir Putin:  I remember those farms.

Well done. Good. On the whole, you have achieved very good results. Congratulations.

Yelena Skrynnik: Thank you.