Rustem Khamitov has held a meeting of the workgroup of the council under the Plenipotentiary of the Russian President in Volga federal district

On February 8 the President of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov has held the first meeting of the workgroup of the Council under the Plenipotentiary of the President of Russia in Volga federal district in video mode re “Development of agricultural complex in regions of Volga federal district in conditions of modernization”.

As Rustem Khamitov mentioned during the meeting, the regions, found in staff of Volga federal district, are considered one of the biggest agricultural producers in Russian Federation. Volga federal district produces more than ¼ of the total agricultural output in Russia, occupying 13% of agricultural lands in the country. The district’s farmings keep almost 1/3 of cattle and 1/5 of hog livestock, producing 1/3 of all-Russian milk output and ¼ of chicken eggs. In Russia this figure is equal to 5% on average. More than 42 thousand peasant farmings and more than 8 thousand agricultural enterprises work in the district.

“By investment attractiveness agriculture in the district is on the second place after oil-refining” – the President RB has reminded – “But though the situation in this branch looks stable and managed to overcome the after-effects of the abnormal drought-2010, we still fail to make its development dynamic. In spite of the unprecedented supporting measures for agrarians within the frames of the national project for development of agriculture and the state program for development of agriculture we are still facing too many unsolved problems”.

In opinion of Rustem Khamitov after the country joins WTO these problems will become even deeper and in these conditions agricultural producers have to adopt new rules of economic behavior.

“We need a transition to new mechanisms of state backing and this backing has to be economically reasonable” – the President RB has underscored – “Vladimir Putin has said that even in WTO conditions this backing can be at the level of 9 billion dollars and at present time state backing of the agricultural sector is found at the rate of 7-7,5 billion USD but we have to understand that these figures will gradually come down. We have to update scientific, technical and technological base of Russian agriculture but at the same time we mustn’t forget the human factor because modern technologies raise the demands in high qualification in agrariculture from one side and from the other side reduce the level of employment in this sphere, while we are already facing problems with unemployment in the countryside, I’m talking about Republic of Bashkortostan. New technologies and new methods will release labor but from the other side we have to involve population of agrarian zones in new economic life”.

The President RB has underscored that all proposals, ventilated at the meeting, have to be included into the program for development of agriculture in Russia till 2020.