14 April 2004 22:16
Field work up on 2003, but problems in agriculture remain - Russian minister
Moscow, 14 April: The rate of spring field work is currently higher than last year, according to Agriculture Minister
Aleksey Gordeyev. He was speaking during "Government Hour" in the State Duma today.
The minister noted that it is planned to carry out sowing on 53m hectares this year, of which grain and pulses are to
be sown on 34m hectares. "All regions of the country have full stocks of seeds," he said.
Aleksey Gordeyev noted in particular that the government was allocating an additional R1.7bn from the federal budget
for support of agriculture. The total volume of allocations for the agroindustrial complex will amount to R22.3bn this
year, which is last year's level.
The minister admitted, at the same time, that it had not yet been possible to resolve several key problems in
agriculture. For instance, prices for agricultural produce remained low, agricultural machinery was on the threshold of
technical degradation, most mineral fertilizers were exported, the social and demographic situation in the countryside
continued to deteriorate and food imports were on the rise, something that was jeopardizing the country's
security.
Russia now imports 11bn dollars' worth of food from abroad each year, Aleksey Gordeyev said. "These are
considerable sums of money lost to national agriculture," he noted.
Judging by the present situation, the minister continued, the growth rates of agricultural production cannot exceed 3
per cent. "It is time to make a fundamental examination of the present situation in agriculture and to draw up a
comprehensive programme for the development of the countryside," Aleksey Gordeyev said.
The minister said that "the main task is to prevent a growth in the price of bread, as a socially important
foodstuff, above the rate of inflation set in the federal budget". He said that following sales of grain from
Russian Federation state stocks it had proved possible to reduce the rate of price increases for bakery products
recently: price increases dropped from 4.5 to 1.5 per cent between January and March. Grain prices in Russia have gone
down by 10 per cent over the last three weeks.
The minister also said that the heads of constituent parts of the Russian Federation had been advised to use the
mechanism of introducing "socially significant bread of two types - a stock of white and a loaf of brown
bread". Prices for this bread will be steady throughout the year. He suggested the possibility of additional state
financing to meet bread costs if prices rise further, for sections of the population living below the poverty line.
[Spring field work is under way in "all districts of the Southern Federal District, the Central District,
southern districts of the Volga Valley and in Kaliningrad Region", Gordeyev told the Duma, according to ITAR-TASS
news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0839 gmt 14 Apr 04. The agency quoted Gordeyev as saying top dressing had been applied
to grain crops on an area of 5m hectares, compared with 2.7m hectares last year, and spring crops had been sown on 2.5m
hectares.]
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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