Tatarstan farmers sell meat and milk at 8.4bn rub a year

09:00, 25.02.2020

The republic is the leader in the Volga Region in terms of farm revenue in animal husbandry

Tatarstan has been rated the second in the rating of Russian regions in terms of revenue of livestock producers. Peasant farm enterprises of the republic earned 8,4 billion rubles for the year from the sale of products. This is more than a quarter of the revenue received by farmers in all 14 regions of the Volga Federal District combined (31,6 billion rubles). Only Dagestan is ahead of our republic in the study. Why and how to achieve complete leadership — in the material of Realnoe Vremya.

Only sheep farmers are ahead

Only Dagestan is among all regions of Russia ahead of the Republic of Tatarstan. The farmers of the Caucasus Republic earned more than 12 billion rubles for livestock products over the year.

According to Deputy Chairman of the Agricultural Committee of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, Takhir Khadeev, Tatarstan's high position in this rating is not surprising.

“The president constantly states that because of the northern climate we cannot compete with the southern regions in crop production, our priority should be animal husbandry. A variety of support measures in force in the republic are aimed at its support, which is bearing fruit," Khadeyev reminded.

Indeed, the top three in terms of revenue from the sale of crop products are more southern regions: Krasnodar Krai, Rostov Oblast and Saratov Oblast.

As for the gap from Dagestan in animal husbandry, according to Takhir Khadeev, it is due to that Tatarstan agriculture is developed mainly at the expense of large agricultural enterprises, so the share of farmers in the total revenue is not as large as in Dagestan, where farms (specializing mainly in sheep farming) are one of the main forms of management.

Starting businesses will be given a hectare

“We also provide significant support to small businesses, so the indicators of agricultural enterprises grow by 10-15% from year to year. We have adopted a law on supporting private farms and the development of cooperation. The republic encourages the introduction of modern technologies into the practice of agricultural enterprises, in particular scientifically balanced feed, the use of which increases the productivity of cows," Takhir Khadeev told Realnoe Vremya. “The ministry of agriculture conducts training for farmers. Now a regulatory act is being prepared for adoption, according to which land plots of up to one hectare that are in municipal and state ownership will be provided to novice farmers for a period of up to six years. This will also be a factor in the development of small businesses.

It is noteworthy that, according to the study, Tatarstan farmers are ahead of their colleagues from all the combined regions of the Northwestern Federal District (4,5 billion) and Ural Federal District (6,6 billion) in total revenue from livestock products.

In the ranking of federal districts, the Volga Federal District ranks second in the country in total revenue from animal husbandry (931,6 billion) and third in revenue from crop production (110,3 billion).

The former head of the ministry of agriculture of the Republic of Tatarstan, now Vice Speaker of the State Council of Tatarstan Marat Akhmetov believes that the second line in this rating is a natural result of the region's investments in agricultural enterprises.

“A commendable result. Small businesses, peasant farming enterprises produce products worth 100 billion rubles. Every year we invest more than two billion dollars in the development of small businesses — this is the result. Over the past ten or fifteen years, we have invested very serious amounts to ensure that the livestock is preserved and business activity is maintained. We have more than two dozen programmes aimed at developing business activity in rural areas.

Kamiyar Baytemirov, the head of the Association of Farms of the Republic of Tatarstan, gives a different reason for the success and makes an even more optimistic forecast.