April 27, 2017 Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Aleksander Tkachev at a meeting of the Government of the Russian Federation under the chairmanship of Dmitry Medvedev presented a national report on the progress and results of the implementation in 2016 of the State Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2013-2020.
The Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation in his speech spoke about the main results of the development of agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation in recent years, noting in particular the steady growth of production in the country's agriculture over the past four years (in 2016, growth was almost 5%). The grain harvest exceeded 120 million tons, record figures were achieved for wheat, corn, sunflower, soy, vegetables and fruits. The gathering of greenhouse vegetables increased by 15%. At the end of 2016, animal husbandry and poultry production increased by 3.5%, primarily due to growth in pigs and poultry. In 2016, for the first time in three years, there was an increase in investments in the agro-industrial complex by 10% compared to the previous year. The volume of investment lending to agriculture increased by 28% and exceeded 380 billion rubles. Short-term loans increased by 35% - to 1.2 trillion rubles. The need of agrarians for loans increases (including the current year), which requires additional subsidies. The main creditors of the industry are Russian Agricultural Bank JSC (it dominates) and Sberbank JSC. They account for 88% of the total amount of loans granted.
Aleksander Tkachev:
"The increase in production created incentives for agricultural enterprises to expand their sales markets abroad, while exports increased by 5% to $ 17 billion, including our main export positions: grain, vegetable oil, fish. In 2016, the volumes of supplies of wheat, maize, rice, soybeans, vegetable oils increased substantially, pork deliveries quadrupled, and poultry meat supplies almost doubled. We plan this year to start implementing the priority project 'Export of Agricultural Products' to increase the volume of exports of our products. Our tasks are to analyze potential sales markets, support agricultural producers in promoting them on foreign markets, and work with the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance to remove phytosanitary, veterinary and other barriers."
