The Federation Council spoke about new amendments to support the marketing of farm products

The meeting, which was attended by First Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Regions Andrey Yatskin, heads of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture Denis Manturov and Dmitry Patrushev, governors of the Lipetsk and Tula regions Igor Artamonov and Alexei Dyumin, was dedicated to the sale of products of small agricultural producers through large retail chains.

During the event, as the Federation Council said, the results of pilot projects in the Tula and Lipetsk regions were considered. The participants of the meeting proposed to disseminate the experience of the two regions in the sale of farm products through large networks throughout the country - before, it was pre-sale prepared through specially created agroaggregators.

According to Dvoinykh, the pilot projects have shown a change in the system of relations between farmers and retail chains - now, in his words, "an atmosphere of trust is being created, which becomes an incentive for cooperation."

According to statistics, peasant and farm enterprises, small enterprises and personal subsidiary farms today produce 56 percent of the gross agricultural product. At the same time, according to Rosstat, the number of retail markets - the main channel for the sale of farm products - has decreased by 6.5 times since 2007, from six thousand to only 816. And the number of chain stores in the country has grown to 65 thousand.

Dvoinykh clarified that the meeting raised the issue of the need to amend the current legislation, which should consolidate the concept of "farm products" and a new form of state support for agricultural producers aimed at marketing such products through the development of appropriate infrastructure.

The senator said that the Agrarian Committee of the Federation Council has prepared a bill that defines farm products. The document also establishes the powers of the regions to host programs to create, develop and support infrastructure for the sale of such goods, establish rules for organizing fairs, providing for the allocation of a mandatory number of places for them for farmers.

“We plan to receive a positive response from the Government in the spring session and send the document to the State Duma,” the parliamentarian noted.