Vegetable growers of Kuzbass establish cooperation with scientific institutes for import substitution of seeds

Today, the Ministry of Agriculture of the region held a meeting via videoconference with farmers and agricultural enterprises working in the field of vegetable growing.
The meeting was attended by Andrey Aritkulov, Minister of Agriculture and Processing Industry of the region, Irina Ganieva, Minister of Science and Higher Education, Kirill Golokhvast, DIRECTOR of the Siberian Federal Scientific Center for Agrobiotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SFSC RAS), and Natalia Petrik, Director of the Kuzbass Research and Education Center.
“In the new economic situation, some agricultural producers have faced a number of problems related to supplies from abroad. As for seeds, these are mainly vegetables, because due to climatic conditions, it has always been extremely problematic for us to produce high-quality vegetable seeds. Some enterprises used up to 90% of imported vegetable seeds in their work. This year, for the sowing campaign, farmers are fully provided with seed material, but it is necessary to intensify work on import substitution of seeds to reduce dependence on foreign supplies in the coming seasons,” Andrey Aritkulov opened the meeting.
The main issue of discussion was the production of seed fund of higher reproductions for the agro-industrial complex of Kuzbass on the basis of the branch of the Federal Scientific Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences - the Kemerovo Research Institute of Agriculture. Within the framework of the meeting, agreements on scientific cooperation were reached: the Kemerovo Research Institute plans to participate in the competition for the creation of youth laboratories that will conduct scientific activities in the interests of Kuzbass.
Recall that in Kuzbass, 25 large enterprises are engaged in the industrial production of vegetables. In 2021, agricultural organizations and peasant (farm) enterprises collected about 25 thousand tons of open ground vegetables (carrots, beets, onions, cabbage). The main production of open ground vegetables is located in the Beregovoy SPK, this enterprise provides about half of the gross harvest in the region.