Dagestan plans to promote its agricultural products in the markets of the country

Deputy Prime Minister of Dagestan Sharip Sharipov, together with senior officials of the Dagestani Ministry of Agriculture, visited the canneries located in the mountainous regions of the country. During the visit, the guests had meetings with district heads and other responsible officials of district administration, discussing issues related to the development of the agriculture of the republic.

The problems of restoring irrigation systems, of government support for family farmsteads, as well as issues related to retail space for the sale of products in Makhachkala and the Russian regions were raised.
At the end of his visit, Deputy Prime Minister of the Dagestani Government summed up the discussions. In particular, he said: "Among the main goals of our trip were observing the preparedness of enterprises for the canning season and familiarization with their practical work, which allows for the consideration of many of the issues in the development of a set of effective measures to strengthen the industry.

Sharipov emphasized that, so far, the problem of increasing volumes of fruit and vegetables to be processed is very urgent. Currently Dagestan produces more than one million tons of vegetables and 120 thousand tons of fruit, of which only a small fraction was processed last year.

At one time, canning factories or small shops were built in the areas of concentration of raw materials, including in the mountainous areas; they received farm-grown produce, and the problem of a distribution-grown fruit harvest almost did not arise.

"Having visited today a number of canneries, we have had the opportunity to once again realize that, without a radical modernization of the technical capacity, these enterprises have difficulties in the production of competitive goods, which is the main postulate of the market. This year we expect a good harvest of apricots in the Gergebilsky and Untsukulsky areas - no less than 20 tonnes, of which only a small part can be processed in these shops," Sharipov is reported as saying by RIA Dagestan.

The Deputy Prime Minister says that on the commission of the Acting President of Dagestan, Ramadan Abdulatipov, the idea of creating a logo "Buy Dagestani produce" is being elaborated, adding that with the new logo it will be easy to recognize consumer products made in Dagestan.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that under the Republican target program to support the processing, up to 50% of the cost of equipment acquisition is subsidized, which is an impressive measure of support. Enterprise managers of the canning industry should follow the example of the leaders, showing more enterprise, taking calculated risks, without which it is difficult to expect success.

"We need to more decisively engage in promoting our agricultural products in  food markets over the country. Currently, we are actively working to build a brand of quality and eco-friendly foodstuffs produced on the territory of the Republic of Dagestan" Sharipov concluded.