‘We are selling grains below cost price’: Tatarstan farmers expecting lower harvest

According to Chairman of the Tatarstan Association of Farmers and Private Households Kamiyar Baytemirov, grain harvest from the previous years remains unsold and has been stored in warehouses. Due to an unfavourable situation and an absence of selling prospects, Tatarstan farmers are thinking about reducing the arable land next year. Alternatives are being considered too.

Public subsidies aren’t a solution to the problem because the region lacks advanced processing enterprises. There is no problem with equipment, however, foreign specialised equipment is gradually becoming obsolete.

Unsold grains

As Kamiyar Baytemirov told Realnoe Vremya, 1.2 million tonnes of grains are stored in Tatarstan warehouses at the moment.

“Grain sale is a hot-button issue among farmers,” he said.

According to the chairman, agricultural producers face a series of difficulties when selling grains from their own warehouses. It is necessary to track the grain quality, transportation and logistics play a big role. Baytemirov stressed that the poorly though-out agricultural and economic policy of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture doesn’t provide agricultural producers with confidence of the possibility of selling all the produce.

When agricultural manufacturers have difficulties with grain processing, they think about reducing the arable land and replacing these grains with more profitable crops.

“We remember the bitter years when, speaking about profitable crops, sunflower started to be sowed, but processors reduced the purchase price. Same happened to buckwheat and rapeseed,” noted Baytemirov.

Unprofitable export

According to the chairman of the association, unsold crops not only do not repay but also force farmers to make a loss.

“Customs duties were introduced. There is a lot of grains, prices are down, including customs duties. It turns out we are selling grains below cost price. And we are settling for it for some reason,” said Baytemirov.

Baytemirov emphasised that the state should assume the function of regulator in grain production and sale. The agro-economic policy is not well-thought-out at the moment: public subsidies are not effective because grains are just stored.

“In this case, the state should solve and offer grain selling measures, norms. Mr Minnikhanov already said that we already had 1.2 million tonnes of grains for sale. But this amount needs to be paid attention, processed in winter,” he noted.

Foreign machinery

Farms don’t have problems with main equipment — Russian tractors, said Baytemirov. However, there is a shortage of special equipment to harvest potato, vegetables and others.

“Such high-quality equipment is not produced in our country. The economic instability of agricultural producers influences the mechanical engineering sector too, it needs to develop,” thinks Baytemirov.

He added that due to the absence of purchasing power, agricultural manufacturers have to use obsolete equipment. Large enterprises that used to buy tractors abroad are often facing such a problem.