State support for the production of potatoes and vegetables in the Chelyabinsk region will increase

In the Chelyabinsk region, it is planned to increase the production of vegetables and potatoes by 2025. The regional Ministry of Agriculture has developed an appropriate concept for the development of potato and vegetable growing, which are included in the list of priorities. From 2022, state support for these industries will increase by 13.7 million rubles and amount to 41 million rubles.

The results of the work of potato and vegetable growers in a difficult 2021, the prospects for the development of the industry were discussed at a production meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture of the region with the heads of agricultural enterprises, heads of industry institutes, and seed companies. According to First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Alexander Zavalishchin, industry specialists were among the first in the region to apply the latest agricultural technologies, mechanized the main processes of growing potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, and cabbage.

In 2021, in adverse weather conditions, the gross potato harvest in the Chelyabinsk region amounted to 400 thousand tons (taking into account the harvest in households), and agricultural organizations and farmers harvested potatoes 13 thousand tons (15%) more than in 2020, - 100 thousand tons. 96 thousand tons of open ground vegetables were harvested, of which 24 thousand tons were in agricultural organizations and farms.

For the storage of vegetables and potatoes in the region there are industrial storage facilities with a total capacity of 174 thousand tons of one-time storage. In recent years, four farms (Agro-Resource, State Farm Akbashevsky, Agricultural Enterprise Krasnoarmeyskoye, Zolotoe Pole) have modernized and built new storage facilities with the help of state support. This year, a new storage facility was built in one of the farms in the Sosnovsky district.

In order to increase the level of self-sufficiency of the region in potatoes and vegetables, in the Chelyabinsk region, in accordance with the concept developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, by 2025, the annual industrial production of open ground vegetables is planned to be increased to 45 thousand tons, potatoes - up to 125 thousand tons. To this end, starting next year, regional state support for vegetable and potato growing will increase by 13.7 million rubles and amount to 41 million rubles. So, only compensatory subsidies for potato production will increase by 2.5 million rubles (up to 5.6 million rubles), and subsidies for the cultivation of vegetables of the "borscht set" - onions, carrots - will increase by 3 million rubles (up to 4.9 million rubles). , beets, cabbage. In 2022, farms will be able to receive a compensating subsidy in March, for this the first stage of the competition for the selection of recipients will be held in December and January of this year.

The stimulating subsidy for vegetable production will increase to 17.2 million rubles (by 72%). Also, unrelated support paid from the regional budget (per unit of sown area) remains: 7.1 million rubles for growing potatoes, 6.2 million rubles for vegetables.

The subsidy for the purchase of elite seeds of various crops is increased by 1 million rubles, up to 56.2 million, under which farms, in addition to seeds of other groups of crops, will be able to renew the seed fund of potatoes in order to receive good quality marketable potatoes. In 2021, five farms received subsidies in this area, the reimbursement amounted to more than one million rubles, which made it possible to compensate for 29% of the cost of purchasing elite potato seeds. In addition, next year, regional subsidies for the purchase of mineral fertilizers, without which the cultivation of potatoes and vegetables is unprofitable, will increase from 100 to 200 million rubles. The rate for the purchase of mineral fertilizers for potatoes and vegetables will be slightly higher than for other crops.

Within the framework of the melioration program, there are three types of support: for cultural equipment, for chemical melioration and hydro melioration (for the last two, 50% of the costs are compensated). So, in 2020, it received a subsidy for hydromelioration of JSC SHP Krasnoarmeyskoye. Here the reclaimed land was increased by 80 hectares. Today, 3 more vegetable growing enterprises are preparing design estimates for the implementation of hydromelioration projects. The Russian Government is currently working on the issue of preferences for farms specializing in the cultivation of potatoes and vegetables in open ground as part of the state program for land reclamation.

Another fundamental factor in the development of the industry is seed production. Farms have long been using seeds that have proven themselves well in the conditions of the Southern Urals, give good yields, but not all of them are zoned, and the process of approving them in this status is not easy. The leaders of potato and vegetable farms drew attention to this, since the use of non-sorted seeds in production affects the amount of state support.

The meeting also discussed issues of providing the industry with labor resources and sales of products.