February 2, 2017, the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Dzhambulat Khatuov, on behalf of the head of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, Alexander Tkachev, held the All-Russian Meeting of Agroengineering services. Mikhail Shchetinin, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Nature Management, took part in it.
The participants discussed the organization of the work of the engineering and technical services of the agro-industrial complex and the development of agricultural machinery. Dzhambulat Khatuov noted that the development of agriculture is impossible without the modernization of the technical base. “The performance of agricultural work in optimal terms, a good harvest, the quality of the product and its competitiveness in the market depends on the provision of farmers with modern machinery. We must do everything within our competence so that our agricultural producers do not experience shortages in good technology," he said.
At the meeting with the report, Pyotr Chekmarev, Director of the Department of Plant Production, Mechanization, Chemicalization and Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia. He said that the availability of tractors of domestic agricultural enterprises in the past 16 years has decreased more than 2 times. This is due to the fact that new machines and equipment purchased in small quantities do not have time to recover old units. "The renewal of the machine and tractor fleet is slow today, agribusiness should annually acquire at least 45,000 tractors, 12,000 grain harvesters and 2,000 feeders," he said.
During the meeting, Dzhambulat Khatuov called for a review of the decisions of the regions regarding engineering and technical services that provide technical equipment to the industry. "Some agricultural enterprises liquidated this service, and the local authorities abolished the relevant departments. Therefore, I ask you to highlight in your structure an independent department that will be responsible for the mechanization of the industry,” he said.
The first deputy minister also commissioned the development and implementation of regional programs for the renewal of the fleet of agricultural machinery until 2020, as well as to establish an active cooperation of machine manufacturers with machine testing stations.
"All new agricultural equipment must be tested at machine testing stations before working in the fields," concluded Dzhambulat Khatuov.
The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations, the Russian Academy of Sciences, research institutes, higher educational institutions, the heads of the regional administration of the agro-industrial complex, the technical supervision agencies of Russian regions, agricultural machinery enterprises, testing stations, and industry unions and associations.
Source: Press Service of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia
