News – Russian Government

The first item on the agenda is the national report on the progress and effects of the implementation in 2023 of the State Programme for the Development of Agriculture and Regulation of the Markets of Agricultural Products, Raw Materials and Food.

Mikhail Mishustin’s Opening Speech

Oksana Lut’s report on the progress and results of the implementation of the State Program for the Development of Agriculture and Regulation of the Markets of Agricultural Products, Raw Materials and Food in 2023

Fragments of the transcript:

Mikhail Mishustin:

Good morning, colleagues,

Today on the agenda we have a national report on the implementation of the state agricultural development program in the past year.

As required by law, the Government will submit this report to the State Duma. Together with legislators, they will determine the most effective tools to achieve the national goals set by the President.

We discussed this in detail during the last strategic session. Our priorities include increasing production in the agro-industrial complex by 25 percent by 2030, increasing exports by 50 percent and increasing investment in fixed assets by 60 percent. In addition, ensuring the technological independence of the industry remains a key goal. All these goals are achievable.

As the President noted, despite external challenges, the sales market for the products of domestic agricultural enterprises is expanding not only in terms of quantity, but also due to the high quality of our food products.

This is visible in the specific performance results for 2023. The level of food security is systematically increasing. We have sufficient supplies of grain, meat, sugar, fish and vegetable oil for both domestic needs and export to our international partners.

Crop yields of vegetables, potatoes and fruit have increased significantly, by about 11 percent. Our logistics capabilities have also expanded, and we are now able to simultaneously store hundreds of thousands of tons of these agricultural products.

We have seen positive changes in other areas as well. Over the past year, we have launched 49 new or reconstructed cattle-breeding facilities and over 170 dairy farms and complexes. Importantly, raw milk processing has also increased, a topic often discussed with State Duma deputies.

In addition, we continue to support farmers with agricultural equipment. Almost 17,000 tractors and combine harvesters have been delivered through leasing or soft loan programs.

The agricultural insurance system is also developing: in 2023 it will be expanded to 69 regions. It allows farmers to reduce costs, including those resulting from emergency situations.

Human resources are actively trained for the industry: more than 270 educational programs have been developed for professional training. Of course, we need advanced specialists who are good at modern technologies.

Agritourism projects are becoming increasingly popular. Grants as a support instrument have been in force for only three years, but in the last two years, facilities created by their recipients have been visited by almost 500,000 people.

Last year, more than 440 billion rubles were allocated for the implementation of the state program.

Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut will explain this in more detail today.

Another important measure.

We continue to help regions make living conditions more comfortable, provide more high-quality medical care, modern education, opportunities to play sports and visit cultural events. This task is one of the government’s priorities. The president emphasized this.

Today we will discuss the allocation of more than 3.7 billion rubles for the creation of about 20 infrastructure facilities in several regions of Russia. Most of it will go to the construction of medical organizations that are in great need, such as a multidisciplinary medical center and hospitals, including children’s hospitals. Thanks to this financial support, the construction of several of them will be completed this year, for example, the building of infectious diseases of the Goryachev Uljanov regional children’s clinic, which we visited about three years ago. This is a large institution that is important for all residents of the region and in which specialized care is provided even to infants.

I would like to ask the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Health to closely monitor the expenditure, work processes and deadlines in this area. These are organizations that save lives and health, including our children.

Now I will briefly talk about support for technological sovereignty projects.

We discussed the necessary mechanisms in detail at strategic sessions. We are actively working on developing a whole range of national projects in the field of healthcare, new materials and energy, which will give us the opportunity to increase the country’s technological independence for many years.

To do this, we must first of all increase the volume and expand the list of chemical products produced in Russia. This sector is developing actively. Last year, the production of small- and medium-tonnage chemicals exceeded the level of 2020 by more than a quarter, this year we will maintain this trend.

On the President’s orders, we will allocate more than 0.5 billion rubles for the country’s leading scientific organizations that will launch the production of chemical products in small quantities. The funds will be allocated through grants for the development of technological regulations and project documentation.

These small production facilities will cover the needs of many Russian companies in various sectors, from healthcare to automotive. As a result, the positive economic effect will be twice as large as the investment.

In total, almost 10 billion rubles have been allocated for these purposes over the past three years, which will allow expanding the equipment base of educational and scientific institutes and laboratories, as well as training new generations of engineers and researchers, and, of course, ensuring a reliable supply of Russian raw materials.

Let’s move on to the discussion.

I would like to invite the Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut to speak on the first issue. Please, you have the floor.

More information coming soon…