Agenda: results of the harvesting campaign, measures to develop the agricultural sector, supporting the development of economic growth centres in the Far East, and results of the Best Municipal Practice national competition.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks
Oksana Lut’s report on the results of the harvesting campaign
Government meeting
Government meeting
Government meeting. Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut
Government meeting
Excerpts from the transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, colleagues.
As the President noted, assistance to agriculture has increased considerably over the past few years. Overall, about 580 billion roubles have been allocated from the federal budget for this purpose this year. The draft budget for next year stipulates the necessary allocations to reliably ensure the technological modernisation of the agricultural sector in full and within the timeframe stipulated by the President.
According to preliminary data, we have harvested over 128 million tonnes of crops. The harvesting of oil crops – soybeans, sunflower and rapeseed – has increased despite adverse weather conditions: namely, spring and summer frost, floods and droughts.
I would like to thank our farmers for everything they have done for the stable development of agriculture, and for meeting the country’s requirements and export obligations. For its part, the Government is ready to continue to promptly meet the sector’s requirements.
We are assisting the renewal of agricultural equipment. Nearly 30,000 farming machines have been bought this year under the lease programmes of the Industry and Trade Ministry, which is extremely important for improving the situation in the related civil engineering sectors.
We provide support to small farms, grain producers and rural tourism projects. A number of such hospitality initiatives have been presented at the Golden Autumn Agricultural Exhibition, a major event that we visited some time ago.
The Agriculture Minister will report on the preliminary results of the harvesting campaign in more detail.
The agenda of this Government meeting includes another important item, that is, support measures for the development of this sector. We are using a flexible and demand-oriented mechanism for financing the agricultural sector. We are subsidising a number of credit facilities to make easy loans accessible for both long-term investment projects and for a short term.
It is important for our agricultural sector to continue to have access to these instruments despite the growth of the Central Bank’s base rate since the beginning of the year.
In order to ensure the stability for our agricultural producers, we will earmark additional funds for the repayment of their previous loans. We will allocate over 30 billion roubles for this purpose or enough to finance at least 50,000 loans our farmers have taken out.
We believe that this will help maintain the profitability of individual farms and the sector as a whole.
It is extremely important to ensure the development of domestic production in accordance with our needs. The Agriculture Ministry is to contemplate systemic measures aimed at increasing the supply of agricultural products so that our people have a choice of high-quality domestic foods.
The next item on our agenda pertains to the support for the Far Eastern Federal District. Pursuant to the instruction issued by the President, we are executing plans aimed at fostering the social development of economic growth centres within this region. We are actively advancing the necessary infrastructure to ensure a comfortable living environment, as well as the efficient operation of businesses and organisations. Today, we will allocate nearly 3 billion roubles to the nine constituent entities of this macro-region.
These funds will be directed towards various projects, including the construction of a recreation centre and a rural school in Yakutia, the modernisation of medical and educational institutions, and the enhancement of heat and water supply networks in the Trans-Baikal Territory. Additionally, funds will be allocated for the renovation of outdoor lighting in Birobidzhan and the provision of state aid to industrial enterprises producing a wide array of technological products in the republics of Buryatia and Yakutia, the Trans-Baikal, Primorye, and Khabarovsk territories, as well as the Amur and Magadan regions, and the Chukotka Autonomous Area.
Our President has placed particular emphasis on the strategic significance of the Far East for the nation as a whole. It is imperative that all planned measures are executed promptly and comprehensively to ensure that this macro-region continues to exhibit accelerated economic growth, the development of the social sector, and enhancements in the standard of living for its residents.
Continuing on the topic of assistance to Russia's constituent entities, with a focus on small towns and residential areas: the President has consistently highlighted the crucial role and responsibility of local authorities, as they are the ones to whom residents turn with their daily concerns and needs. It is paramount that their issues are addressed by individuals who are qualified, visionary, capable, and committed to achieving results. Annually, we acknowledge and reward the accomplishments of such teams through the Best Municipal Practice nationwide competition.
Recently, the results of the eighth iteration of this event were compiled. The winners included 50 municipalities from 31 Russian constituent entities, encompassing large cities like Kaluga, Belgorod, and Voronezh, as well as predominantly small urban and rural residential areas such as the rural communities of Burungulskoye and Sharaldayskoye in the Republic of Buryatia, Gudermes in the Chechen Republic, and Teriberka in the Murmansk Region.
Local administrative personnel have demonstrated remarkable success and efficiency in addressing issues of critical importance to citizens. Notably, they have excelled in the enhancement of public spaces, the modernisation of urban facilities through digital technology integration, and the identification of key priorities for budgetary allocation.
It is essential for municipalities to be receptive to their colleagues' experiences and to implement these insights in their own practices, as the primary objective of such endeavours is to ensure a more comfortable and secure life for citizens in their native locales.
Let us now proceed to the discussion. I would like to invite Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut to report on the first matter. Please proceed.
Oksana Lut: Mr Prime Minister, colleagues.
The autumn field works are now in their final stage. Despite various weather abnormalities that agricultural workers face this year, the harvesting season is ending as expected.
The crops have been threshed from 97 percent of the crop lands. As you already mentioned, Mr Prime Minister, more than 128 million tonnes have been harvested. I should remind you that the domestic grain consumption currently stands at 87 million tonnes. Therefore, we have fully ensured food security with respect to grain.
It is expected that as of the end of the year, the grain harvest will reach the amount of 130 million tonnes, including 83 million tonnes of wheat. This will be a top five result in Russia’s recent history and will allow us to preserve a significant export potential for agricultural stock and for processed goods. This new grain harvest is also of higher quality than that of last year, with around one-third of wheat qualified as first to third grade.
As for other crops, our preliminary estimate is as follows. We expect to harvest around 28 million tonnes of oil-bearing crops, with soy and rape setting the records of 7 million and 4.6 million tonnes, respectively. The sugar beet harvest of around 44 million tonnes will allow us to produce 6.3–6.4 million tonnes of sugar, which also fully covers the domestic demand. We will also harvest over 7 million tonnes of potatoes and around 7.4 million tonnes of vegetables in the industrial agriculture sector. Due to difficult weather conditions, these harvests will be slightly lower than last year.
As an additional supply for the domestic potato and open-ground vegetable market, we plan to timely import potatoes and vegetables from friendly countries. We also expect to reach the highest harvest of around 1.6 million tonnes of closed-ground vegetables in the industrial agriculture sector, including cucumbers and tomatoes.
For rice, we are close to a record harvest in the entire history of modern Russia. We had the highest harvest of 1.1 million tonnes in 2020 and this year, we have already harvested over 1.1 million and expect it to reach 1.2 million tonnes.
Despite late spring frosts, the organised sector is expected to collect about 1.7 million tonnes of fruits, vegetables and berries,
surpassing the average volumes of the past five years. I would like to highlight
that the draft 2025 budget allocates 7.5 billion roubles, which is 1.7 billion
more than the 2024 levels, to support this sector.
Currently, our farmers are laying the groundwork for the 2025 harvest, with
regions in the south, the North Caucasus and Central Russia actively sowing
winter crops. Work is nearly complete in all other areas.
At present, grain and technical crops cover over 19 million hectares. We anticipate reaching just under 20 million hectares by late 2024, roughly matching last year's figures.
It is worth noting that we are consistently expanding crop areas in the new regions. We plan to sow winter crops over an area of 1.6 million hectares in these regions, reflecting a three percent increase compared to 2023.
We also continue to encourage the modernisation of the agricultural machinery fleet. Today, our farmers have 575,000 tractors and harvesters at their disposal. Preferential lending, along with Rosagroleasing programmes, which has increased the volume of deliveries by a third this year, are facilitating equipment updates.
We are working to possibly double the volume of support in this area next year using additional sources.
As for the fuel, farmers’ needs for fuel and lubricants are fully met for uninterrupted operation. We are monitoring the pricing situation together with the Ministry of Energy.
A few words about financial support for the agro-industrial sector. This year, 92.2 billion roubles have been allocated directly to subsidise agricultural producers, of which 83 percent has already been transferred to farmers.
In addition, preferential lending remains a popular measure. This year, the total amount of approved preferential loans for seasonal fieldwork has exceeded 300 billion roubles, which is approximately the same as last year.
I would like to speak specifically about the mechanism of agricultural insurance with state support. In 2024, about 5.5 billion roubles were allocated for this purpose, and this tool has proven its relevance and importance in the unprecedented weather conditions we experienced this year. Expected insurance payments for affected agricultural producers should also total about 5 billion roubles by the end of the year.
Next year, we plan to increase the funding for this measure to 5.8 billion roubles.
Mr Mishustin, I would like to thank you for your decision to allocate 930 million roubles from the reserve fund for our gardeners who, unfortunately, were unable to insure their crops and lost them due to the May frosts. This support will help them remain financially stable and continue to steadily increase fruit production in Russia.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasise that this year the sector has preserved a positive development trend despite a certain drop in plant growing because of the natural disasters I mentioned. We continue to increase the production of livestock and poultry, milk, finished food products, and beverages. As a result, overall agricultural output has increased by 1.8 percent since the beginning of the year.
Hence, the agricultural sector is fulfilling its task of increasing production volumes, which will contribute to the gradual achievement of food security indicators, ensuring the economic availability of food for our people and strengthening Russia’s position in the international agricultural market.
Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Ms Lut.
I would like to ask you to be extremely responsible in preparing for the 2025 sowing campaign. Everything that farmers need for the sowing campaign must be considered today.
I also ask you to work on securing sufficient funds for the sowing campaign (I mean investments) together with Anton Siluanov following the Government meeting. This issue must be addressed collaboratively with all the farmers you are in touch with. It is essential that we approach the year 2025 with a clear understanding of the amount of funding that the Government will need to provide.
And of course, regarding prices, it is also very important that the supply-side economy, which we are engaged in, is sufficient for fruit and vegetable products. We need to monitor the provision of products very carefully. I know that you are attending to this together with the Ministry of Economic Development. Please, continue to monitor this aspect.
