Russia harvests over 135 mln tonnes of grain in bunker weight this year - Mishustin
MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) - Russia has harvested over 135 million tonnes of grain this year, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said.
"Over 135 million tonnes of grain have been harvested, and again there are records for pulses, soybeans, rapeseed and fruit," Mishustin said at a strategic session on Tuesday.
He was referring to the grain harvest in bunker weight.
He said dairy and cheese production had also increased this year.
Russia had "more than enough" grain, meat, fish, vegetable oil and sugar at the end of last year and was close to the food security doctrine's targets for milk, potatoes and vegetables, Mishustin said. "I expect that future results will be no lower than what we have already achieved. This forecast is largely based on the preliminary results of the harvest campaign," he said.
Mishustin said state support like preferential lending, subsidies for priority sectors, assistance for small and medium-sized farms, consumer cooperatives and preferential leasing had proven effective.
An inventory of farm land across the country should be complete by the end of the year. "This is millions of hectares of arable land, which would enable the agriculture sector to boost output if put to use," he said.
"A key factor in increasing the efficiency of the agro-industrial complex is to speed up the introduction of modern technologies, including digital solutions and automation. This opens up broad opportunities for forecasting crop yields. It's possible to detect pests on time, calculate how much fertilizer will be needed, monitor the state of livestock, optimize site utilization for maximum productivity and also use other home-grown methods to enhance product quality and reduce costs," he said.
Mishustin said the speed of innovation was crucial. He said the time it takes to bring new developments to market must be reduced to a minimum and that starting this year, the Education and Science Ministry had been providing support to 39 scientific and educational institutions conducting research in crop growing.
"Last year, 16 patents and 14 domestic solutions were obtained under the federal scientific and technical program, and 38 varieties and hybrids were included in the state registry," he said. "Three national centers were set up and are conducting genetic research on plants, grape varieties and animals for the agriculture sector's needs."
Mishustin said the government would continue to support the agriculture sector, which is reflected, among other things, in the government's position on the draft federal budget for the next three years, submitted to the State Duma.
