By Vestnik Kavkaza
In late winter, representatives of the executive power of Russia asked Premier Dmitry Medvedev to allocate an additional 15 billion rubles from the federal budget to holding spring field work. According to the deputy head of the State Duma Committee for Agricultural Affairs, Nadezhda Shkolkina, “not only the economic, but also the social stability of the country” depend on the quality of spring field work. Russia needs big volumes of grain, due to the program of import substitution which demands an increase in the livestock population and food supplies for it. Moreover, in the context of the reduction of real incomes of the population, the demand for bread and flour products is growing.
Andrey Tumanov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on information policy, information technologies and relations, thinks that for development of seed growing, an enormous scientific stratum is needed: “We have been spoiling this stratum for twenty years; it could take us a long period of time to recover. Growing seeds as was done 20 years ago is an old method. We cannot compete with foreign companies, using old technologies. We should develop logistics. In this sphere we should follow the experience of foreign partners.”
Telling Vestnik Kavkaza about state support for agricultural producers, Aleksander Korbut, vice-president of the Russian Grains Union, cited Turkey as an example: “They created a specific system in order to support the profitability of agricultural activity. Turkey is one of the biggest suppliers of flour to the world market, which is made of Russian grains. Turkey sells it to other countries at the same or a bit lower price in comparison to the purchase price of the grain. They have an import duty which is compensated for when exporting flour.
The same situation applies to seed growing. There was no national program in Turkey. In order to do this, they provided clear terms of business and a little governmental support, stimulated exports, minimized all administrative difficulties at the time of the formation and functioning of companies.”
According to Korbut, exporting is not an end in itself: “This wonderful phrase was said by the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture after reaching the point of 100 billion dollars a year of Brazilian agricultural production. He was asked: "What's the next stage?" And he answered: "The stage? We export in order to have some extra money for agriculture. We have no special export plans. We are planning according to the profitability of agriculture." Unfortunately, our situation differs from that one. If we want a breakthrough in selling seeds on the world market, we have some sorts which are competitive. The government should take care of the promotion to world markets. In this case, Russia's status will rise and everybody in Russia will know about these sorts. The main problem is that we don't know what we have. We don't get this information. As in the old good Soviet times: we have everything but only one copy.”
According to Korbut, the Turkish experience is very positive, as it has very clear aims. Not only developing and increasing production but increasing effective and competitive production. If we set a task, I can surely say that farmers will be able to do everything. We should not tell them how much to sow and gather. If we have solvency, and good internal and external demand, we will provide the necessary volume of production."
Speaking about seeds, Korbut says that it is an element of technology: “Agricultural producers buy not only seeds. They buy a technology. That's why the importation level of sugar-beet seeds, corn, potatoes and sunflower seeds is very high in our country. Foreign supplies suggest technologies. Science is developing very fast. We have essential lags in the technological provision of selection research. The policy of the country should be focused on the future. The future is selection and genetics, the main conditions of agricultural development. On the basis of our experience, we should create our own systems and form a breakthrough in scientific selection.We need to develop both financial and organizational focus in order to achieve the following scheme: development-implementation. Otherwise, if we support only development, we will be at a disadvantage forever."
