Opening the meeting, the Minister of Agriculture set the goal of harvesting at least 95 million tonnes of grain in 2013 to meet domestic demand, to build up necessary reserves and develop export potential. Provisionally, the total area for spring sowing will be 51 million hectares (a 5% increase from last year) and around 53 million hectares taking into account damaged winter crops.
Some 264 billion roubles are required for the spring fieldwork, including over 150 billion roubles in loans. Overall, there is a good potential for the start of the spring season. Farming communities have been provided with 96% of the seeds required, of which 80% are high-quality seeds (the same rate as last year). As much as 563 thousand tones of mineral fertilizers have been bought, which is 30 thousand more than last year.
Around 23.4 billion roubles have been allocated for spring fieldwork out of 31.4 billion roubles in federal subsidies to support crop production this year. The major part of the money will be spent on support for farming producers per hectare of land (15.2 billion), subsidising short-term loans (6.2 billion roubles), subsidising the acquisition of top quality seeds (513 million roubles), farming in the Far North (540 million roubles), perennial plants (500 million roubles) and vineyards (300 million roubles).
The Minister said that Dmitry Medvedev had instructed an additional 42 billion roubles to be allocated for the implementation of the state programme. Nikolai Fyodorov stressed that the contracts for subsidising agriculture must be closed as soon as possible in order for the federal budget funds to reach the regions in due time.
Summarising the meeting, the Minister requested that the departments involved coordinate the spring fieldwork with the regional agencies overseeing agriculture. Fyodorov pointed out that a weekly review of prices on mineral fertilisers, fuels and lubricants and energy sources is required. Steps also need to be taken to ensure that the federal money reaches agricultural producers. Lending organisations are being advised to maintain the rate of granting loans to farming companies and focus on the availability and affordability of credit resources.
