Myasnikovich: the competitiveness of the EAEU agro-industrial complex is rapidly gaining momentum

March 5, Gorki. The competitiveness of the agro-industrial complex of the EAEU is rapidly gaining momentum. Mikhail Myasnikovich, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, shared this opinion with journalists during the round table "Prospects for the development of a common market for seeds of agricultural plants within the EAEU", which is taking place today at the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy, BelTA informs.

"Today we have gathered a round table in order to consider certain issues of food security. In the Eurasian Economic Union, we fully provide our own market through our own production. For example, for grain production, the security is 148% of annual consumption, for dairy products - 98% , MEAT - 100%.But the main task is to increase the efficiency of agricultural production.It is important not only to produce the required volume, but to take into account the economy.In this vein, increasing the efficiency of agricultural production comes to the fore.In seed breeding, we must pay attention to the fact that the yield, and therefore the efficiency and cost of crop production largely depends on the quality of the seeds," he said.

As Mikhail Myasnikovich noted, the fact that $1 billion is used to purchase seed products from countries outside the Eurasian Economic Union is worrying. Mutual trade between the five EAEU countries is about $100 million a year, exports are about $45 million. dependence. In this vein, seed production can serve as a direction for exports to countries of the far arc," he stressed.

The EAEU countries are fully self-sufficient in seeds, but there is a need to work on import substitution of some seed crops, such as corn, SUGAR beets. “Belarusian and Russian breeders have varieties that are competitive on world markets. Our task is to create motivational mechanisms to increase the production of seeds of domestic selection. This way we will reduce the cost of production, this will affect the price reduction in stores,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich.

Thanks to the efforts of the heads of the EAEU states, there are quite good indicators for the development of agricultural production. As the Chairman of the EEC Board noted, since 2014 the volume of mutual trade in these products has increased by 34%. At the same time, not to the detriment of exports to third countries, exports doubled. "The competitiveness of agricultural products in the EAEU is growing rapidly. The investments that were invested in the development of agriculture are already paying off. In this regard, Belarus demonstrates the best indicators. We have almost complete provision with grain, meat - 150%, MILK - 250%. Thus Thus, there are no grounds for fluctuations in retail prices, - Mikhail Myasnikovich emphasized. - The main task now is to rationally manage the resources that we have. There are good EXPORT prospects in Belarus,

As another participant of the round table, Member of the Board (Minister) for Industry and Agro-Industrial Complex of the EEC Artak Kamalyan, noted, the issues that exist today in terms of providing quality seeds to agricultural producers of the EAEU are one of the key ones. “We worked with countries, the business community, and carried out some analytical work. From the point of view of import substitution of seeds, not everything is so good. Last year, the commission’s council adopted a decision that approves the list of critically import-dependent seeds. And it’s not so much the cost of products, but in quality, productivity, indirect economic effect. Now we are on the way to develop recommendations on how to reduce this figure. This is painstaking work, which includes the interaction of science, business, marketing and other areas," he said.

The meeting was attended by heads of ministries of agriculture, representatives of educational institutions and businesses of the EAEU countries. They discussed the issues of availability of varieties and seeds of agricultural crops of the EAEU states, analyzed the decisions of the union's bodies on the development of a single seed market and new proposals aimed at expanding mutual trade in seeds and planting material.