Dagestan introduces new methods of pasture improvement

On the lands of the peasant farm "Highlander" of the Suleiman-Stalsky district, a demonstration of the technology of surface improvement of pastures was held

The event was attended by First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Dagestan Sharip Sharipov, heads of district agricultural departments and heads of farms, scientists, representatives of a number of companies from other regions.

Dagestan occupies a leading position in the country in terms of the number of cattle and small cattle. Animal husbandry is a traditional way of life of the rural population of the republic.

The area of ​​pastures and hayfields in the region is more than 2.7 million hectares, or 80 percent of all agricultural land. At the same time, due to various natural and anthropogenic reasons, in recent years, the issues of increasing fodder production and restoring pastures have become extremely relevant. In this regard, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Dagestan is looking for various opportunities to increase the productivity of the republican pasture lands.

Within the framework of priority measures, steps were proposed for the surface improvement of pastures and hayfields by overseeding grass mixtures in the sod of existing meadows.

In a number of regions of the country, this technology is well developed - special seeders are actively used, and proven grass mixtures are used, which make it possible to maintain pasture productivity for a long period. Today in Dagestan, and especially in the north of the republic, it is desirable to carry out such work on large areas.

It is noteworthy that individual producers of the republic are trying to keep up with the times, the seeder purchased by the KFH "Highlander" for the restoration of pastures is the only one of its kind in Dagestan. Approbated on the lands of peasant farms, the technique and technology allows you to get the result at the lowest cost. There is no need to carry out a complete grassing of the land; grasses are oversowed into the existing pastures by cutting slots with a special seeder.

Emphasizing the relevance of this event, Sharip Sharipov noted the following: “The development of livestock should be accompanied by the priority development of the forage base, including the need to take measures to restore pastures and protect them from degradation. We see that today, for various reasons, many valuable grasses fall out of the herbage of pastures, often they are replaced by plants and weeds of low fodder value. Therefore, such work has begun in Dagestan on overseeding grass mixtures in pasture lands. We plan to practice the same on hayfields. Considering that equipment specialized for pasture restoration is not cheap, we expect to work out measures to support farms that are interested in this technology. The Ministry intends to attract the expert community, scientific potential of the republic and other regions for the development of an optimally effective model for solving issues of pasture conservation. In the Derbent region, at the site of the Dagestan experimental station of the All-Russian Institute of Plant Growing, we agreed to conduct demonstration sowing of various grass mixtures. Similar experiments will be carried out in some other regions of the republic. This is an important work, so we intend to deal with this urgent task for Dagestan on a long-term basis.”