The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia has summed up the six-year results of the food embargo imposed by the decree of the President of Russia of August 6, 2014.During this time, the Russian agroindustry has demonstrated significant development dynamics, now Russia is fully self-sufficient in basic food products and is actively increasing the export potential of the industry, the Ministry of Agriculture notes.
According to the Minister of Agriculture of Russia Dmitry Patrushev, the most important result of recent years is the creation of tens of thousands of jobs in the agricultural sector. "The opening and intensive development of agricultural companies throughout the country has significantly improved the employment situation in rural areas. Moreover, now that Russia, like the rest of the world, is facing various consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the agricultural industry acts as a donor of jobs for other sectors of the economy and is ready to accept specialists from a wide variety of areas, including high-tech areas," the head of the Ministry of Agriculture noted.
Over the past six years, Russia has reduced food imports by a third, from $ 43.3 billion in 2013 to $ 30 billion in 2019. Regarding pork, it decreased almost tenfold - if in 2013 the country imported this meat for $ 2.6 billion, then in 2019 already by $ 270 million. For cattle meat, imports decreased 2.5 times, from $ 3, 2 billion to $ 1.3 billion, poultry - almost doubled, from $ 911 million to $ 410 million, vegetables and dairy products - by a third. Imports of tomatoes decreased by 42.1% from $ 1.1 billion to 4,639 million, apples and pears - by 50.8% from $ 1.2 billion to $ 586 million.
Russian agricultural exports increased by half and amounted to $ 25.6 billion in 2019 against $ 16.8 billion in 2013. In particular, a significant increase was recorded in the supply of meat and fat and oil products, food and processing industry products abroad. Russia is among the leaders in the supply of wheat, vegetable oil, fish, sugar and a number of other categories. In particular, thanks to these measures, Russia ensured a significant increase in the production of the main types of crop production - grain (from 92.4 million tons in 2013 to 121.2 million tons in 2019), sugar beet (from 39.3 million tons to 54, 4 million tons), soybeans (from 1.5 million tons to 4.4 million tons), vegetables in winter greenhouses (from 538,000 tons to 1.14 million tons), fruits and berries (from 678,000 tons to 1.18 million tons) and other crops.
Significant progress has been achieved in animal husbandry. For example, the production of pigs for slaughter in live weight in farms of all categories increased from 3.6 million tons in 2013 to 5.03 million tons in 2019, poultry production - from 5.2 million tons to 6.7 million tons. "Thanks to the work of our farmers and effective government policy, over the past six years, the volume of production of agro-industrial products has increased by 22.4%, and the industry as a whole has become one of the drivers of the Russian economy. All of us together managed to largely change the perception of agriculture as an unprofitable and risky industry, to form in the business environment an understanding that it is a modern, high-tech and profitable business. At the end of last year, the profitability of agricultural enterprises reached 13.3%, which is almost twice as high as in 2013. Now we note a stable inflow of Russian and foreign capital even from investors who previously had nothing to do with the agroindustry. The industry has become one of the largest consumers of new technologies and advanced scientific developments. More and more people see opportunities and prospects in agriculture both for themselves and for their business," Dmitry Patrushev noted.
In 2014-2019, the actual growth of production in agriculture was 119%, food products - 131%, beverages - 105%. At the end of the current year, the expected growth in production in agriculture over seven years may reach 120.2%, food products - 135.3%, drinks - 108.1%, and in the agro-industry as a whole - 125.1%. In general, the effect of restrictive measures gave impetus to the development of the agro-industrial sector in Russia, contributed to the inflow of investments, the creation of additional jobs both in agriculture and in related industries.
Source: DairyNews.ru.
