‘Villages will live as long as the land works’
Ministry of Agriculture told about national brands at a gathering of entrepreneurs from Tatar villages
The XII All-Russian gathering of entrepreneurs from Tatar villages of the regions of the Russian Federation and Tatarstan has begun in Kazan. On the first day, 800 representatives of small businesses, farms and farmsteads gathered on discussion platforms. Realnoe Vremya visited the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan, where they discussed the role of Tatar brands in the preservation and development of villages.
For competitions, not sausages!
Moderator of the site, executive director of the World Association for Assistance to Tatar Entrepreneurs Farit Urazaev, critisising the delegates for being late, began his speech, recalling that the ever-memorable development strategy of the Tatar people gives the opportunity to add something of own kind. His idea is to promote seven Tatar brands, codes that will preserve the Tatar village.
“We now have officially registered Tatar thoroughbred horses," he began listing the brands. “And people, by raising horses, do not make sausage out of them, but revive our ancient games related to horses.
In particular, this is the audarysh game, which will be held on a national scale for the fourth time in April along with other competitions. In audarysh, they fight on horseback — who will pull the other off or force them to jump off.
According to Farit Nabiullin from Leninogorsk district, this is a safe sport. On June 12, together with Tatneft, it is planned to hold an all-Russian audarysh tournament. He promised consultations and cooperation to everyone — and immediately dictated his phone number from the podium.
“I recently participated in an international conference," said the stud breeder. “We spoke from Moscow: due to that we were not allowed to attend the Olympic Games, we began to look at national sports. They gave me the word. I say: I'll have to correct you. No need to look at whether we are allowed in or not. We have a multinational people in Russia, so first of all, we need to develop national sports.”
Nabiullin touched upon the topic of new veterinary rules for keeping horses for reproduction, which come into force on September 1, 2024. According to him, they are not suitable not only for Sakha-Yakutia, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Altai, Tuva, but also for Tatarstan:
“We have horses that walk all year round. We need to review the law," Nabiullin said, mentioning tebenevka — winter grazing, when horses independently forage from under the snow.
Muslyumovo is our Switzerland
“Probably, all of you got married," Urazaev began the story about the second brand, geese. “At the wedding, the daughter-in-law steps on a down pillow, and a goose, a noble dish, is placed on the table by her parents.
Now the World Congress of Tatars works with about 25 enterprising goose breeders. Besides, the Congress is holding the Kaz Omase festival in Muslyumovsky district. According to Urazaev, this is “our Switzerland” — beautiful and rich.
"40 thousand geese are slaughtered in private industries, and farmers — 180 thousand. 220 thousand in total. If the goose costs 2,000, that's 500 million rubles of income for you," Urazaev calculated. “Just as they say.
At the same time, Ravil Lotfullin, a resident of Cheboksary, was responsible for the geese. He has 65 thousand female geese on his farm. By the way, with the moderator's permission, he spoke Russian. According to Lotfullin, despite that 60-70% of geese are produced in Tatar farms, breeding work is almost not carried out:
“There is an imitation of frenzied activity. We, the goose breeders, support the initiative of the board to create a breed of Tatar goose," Lotfullin summed up. And Urazaev promised to treat those who wish to stuffed goose at the exhibition. Like, everyone ate stuffed chicken, but here it's a delicacy!
"80% of the land is not cultivated in our villages”
They talked on the discussion platform, sometimes eloquently, sometimes not, about other brands — honey, health (ointments, creams, teas), gardening (apples, berries), clothing (in particular, shawls), handicrafts (in particular, the production of squeezeboxes). Delegates were surprised by a project in which mosques are equipped with electric car chargers. At the same time, the buildings themselves are illuminated by enthusiasts in the Nurly Islam project — inexpensive, which can be easily replaced by the parishioners themselves. There are plans to organise a marathon “One day — one minaret” for Ramadan.
"80% of the land is not cultivated in our villages," Urazaev summed up. “They don't even grow potatoes, they don't breed livestock. And the village will live while the land works. Imagine if the pension runs out, what should a village man do? He has land. The purest organic matter, and we don't do anything on it.”