At his speech at the expanded session of the regional parliament on Friday, June 11, 2021 Oleg Melnichenko emphasised further active development of the agro-industrial complex.
"Today, we are already provided with our own food for the main types of products by more than 85% — this is what we need to acquire food independence. Our agro-industrial complex has made significant progress recently. It has great growth potential due to the intensifying of processing and the further development of the food and processing industry. Our goal is one hundred percent processing of all agricultural goods produced in the region," the acting Governor stated.
"The Penza Oblast is the breadbasket of the Volga District," he stressed.
In his opinion, good, eco-friendly and competitive products of Penza manufacturers should be recognisable. This is not only a matter of marketing, but also of prestige: that is what the region is proud of.
"We need to achieve stable indicators of the gross grain harvest at the level of at least 3 million tons per year. So it is necessary to continue putting agricultural land into operation and using mineral and organic fertilisers according to scientific standards. We should engage in the renewal of the fleet of agricultural machinery more actively and not hesitate to use state support measures. We can implement an automated system for monitoring the efficiency of land use and the state of crops. This system will allow not only to control land users, but also to warn them in a timely manner about possible threats to the crop," Oleg Melnichenko explained.
"The agro-industrial complex today is not only large enterprises, but also thousands of people who live and work on the land. Therefore, it is necessary to organise a proper cooperation with small businesses and work on the development and improvement of rural areas: by the end of 2023, 170 small and medium-sized businesses in agriculture should be created and 456 families should be provided with new housing," he ordered.
More than 50 improvement projects in rural areas should also be implemented. The acting head of the region instructed the ministries in charge to jointly work out proposals for new measures to support such projects.
