About food self-sufficiency

At the regular, fiftieth meeting, the members of the Consultative Meeting of the First Pridnestrovian Deputies under the Chairman of the Supreme Council invited the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources Efimy Koval. The keynote of the dialogue is the food security of the republic. First of all, they talked about providing Pridnestrovians with agricultural products.

The conversation began with report on the results of the current agricultural year, the basis of which was laid back in last autumn.

The Slobodzeysky region is more affected from natural disasters, which are not new to farmers, since Pridnestrovie is considered a zone of risky agriculture. The state will help affected farms.

We can be sure as in previous years: we have something to put in the bins. We are more than provided with grain, which also has a huge export potential for deliveries to Europe and Asia.

The reserve for the next year’s harvest is 108 thousand hectares already sown with winter crops, 80 thousand hectares of which is wheat. However, seedlings are not encouraging due to lack of rainfall.

For many years now, the managerial decision to stabilize at the level of 70 kopecks of payment per cubic meter of water used for irrigation has been showing effectiveness. Thanks to this, the total area of ​​irrigated land was brought to 13 thousand ha. This is clearly not enough. With the help of Russian partners, ambitious plans will be implemented to bring this figure to 63 thousand hectares, which is one third of all agricultural land. The development of the reclamation complex is one of the most important components of the state agribusiness development program adopted by the Supreme Council, the validity of which is calculated until 2026.  

Representatives of the industry minister told the founders of the republic about state support to farmers through long-term lending with low interest rates and subsidies. Money is spent on uprooting old and laying new gardens, purchasing modern refrigeration units for storing agricultural products, irrigation systems. The state intends to test the same financing scheme for the acquisition of pedigree young animals.

State subsidies to its producers have also grown from 50 kopecks to a ruble per liter of milk.

One of the evidence of the positive dynamics of the development of the agro-industrial complex, the chairman of the Consultative Meeting of the First Pridnestrovian Deputies Igor Smirnov considers the fact that less and less land is being demanded by landowners.

These words are confirmed by numbers: there are no free lands, 4.7 thousand hectares remain unspoken.

The founders of the republic at a similar meeting last year made a number of recommendations to the Head of the agrarian department. One of them concerned the creation in Russia of several wholesale bases to promote our agricultural products to the Russian market. They are not created, since Pridnestrovie is not able to provide the volumes required for them. At the same time, direct agreements were concluded with the largest retail chains of the Russian Federation Magnit and Pyaterochka, who are happy to purchase our frozen products (green peas, sweet corn, cauliflower, broccoli).

There was a great interest in making things better in our agricultural sector in questions and speeches of the first Pridnestrovian deputies, because the food security of the state depends on it. The founders of the republic asked the minister about the seed fund, the work of the Agricultural Research Institute, the creation of cattle breeding herds, the possibility of resuming consumer cooperation, rising prices for agricultural products and low purchase prices for meat, and the development of social infrastructure in the countryside.

The proposals of the first Pridnestrovian deputies are reflected in the adopted resolution.