The final board of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the RT was held at the site of the “Kazan Expo”.

(KZN.RU, February 13). In the near future, Tatarstan needs to complete the repair of agricultural equipment, prepare sowing materials and the required amount of mineral fertilizers for the sowing campaign/ Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, said this during the final meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the RT, which was held at the International Exhibition Center “Kazan Expo”.

The board meeting is devoted to the results of the work of the agro-industrial complex of Tatarstan in 2018 and tasks for 2019. Alexey Pesoshin, the prime minister of the RT, Farid Mukhametshin, the chairman of the State Council of the RT, Mintimer Shaimiev, the State Councilor of the RT, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, Ekzam Gubaidullin, the chairman of the Council of Municipalities of the RT, and others attended it.

The gross output of the agro-industrial complex of the RT last year amounted to about 376 billion rubles or 13.3% of the gross regional product. Marat Akhmetov, the deputy prime minister of the RT and the minister of Agriculture and Food of the RT, said this in his report. The food industry amounted to 160 billion rubles, agriculture – 216 billion rubles.

After listening to the report of M. Akhmetov, Rustam Minnikhanov briefly discussed some significant moments in the sphere of the agro-industrial complex of the republic. “A sowing campaign is ahead of us. Every day is a loss of moisture, and therefore a loss of grain. We need to complete the repair of agricultural equipment, prepare sowing materials and most importantly, the required amount of mineral fertilizers”, he said. Today the task has been set to reach 70 kg of fertilizers per hectare of land.

The President of the RT also marked that federal and republican subsidy to agricultural producers were received in full. But, nevertheless, it is necessary to work actively with partners and banks to raise funds for the sowing campaign.

One of the main issues is to ensure the sowing campaign with high-quality fuel at a reduced price, said the President.

“Since 2010, our large enterprises such as groups of companies “Tatneft” and “TAIF” have already supplied 1 million 200 thousand tons of fuel. If we did not have our own refining, production of diesel fuel, gasoline, then our business would be worse. Let's thank the fuel suppliers”, reminded R. Minnikhanov.

After, he raised the issue of agricultural efficiency. “Everyone needs to work for the result”, believes the President of the RT. “We need to increase efficiency, intensify the work in terms of consumer cooperation and the volume of procurement of personal farmsteads. This is a huge potential that we must use and maintain”.

Separately, the head of the republic focused on the issue of livestock. He said that in recent years, farmers have managed to stabilize the situation in this area. “10 years ago, we had 54 cows per 100 yards. Today there are 21 cows. But the personal farms must be supported as much as possible! Issues of feed and pasture should be resolved in the areas. And people should have motivation”, said R. Minnikhanov. He noted that Tatarstan has good prospects in the production of halal products. “Tatarstan is a major producer of agricultural products. This is a priority direction because we are a republic where Islam is confessed. We could use this competitive advantage”, believes the President of the RT.

Rustam Minnikhanov also got acquainted with the exposition of the agro-industrial complex enterprises and with the submitted samples of agricultural machinery, reports the press service of the President of the RT. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of the RT, 320 organizations and enterprises of Tatarstan and Russia participate in the exhibition of the agro-industrial complex and processing industry enterprises.