The acting governor took part in the plenary session devoted to the All-Russian Field Day and held by videoconference under the chairmanship of the RF Minister of Agriculture, on Friday, August 13, 2021.
Oleg Melnichenko joined the All-Russian event at the elevator of Pachelmskoye OOO of Rusmolko Management Company.
Opening the plenary session, Dmitry Patrushev, head of the federal department, said that it was the first time the event had been held in the Ural Federal District, with heads of the Russian regions, representatives of federal executive authorities, business and financial structures and scientific institutions, as well as agricultural producers participating.
"In 2021 the sown area amounted to about 80 million hectares. More wheat, sunflower, buckwheat and sugar beet has been sown. For the first time, the area for oilseeds has reached 16.5 million hectares," the Minister of Agriculture of Russia outlined the statistics.
"A harvesting campaign has started in all regions. Somewhere it is already coming to an end. About 80 million tons of grain were harvested. At one of the operational headquarters, we talked about the need to speed up the harvest due to bad weather. I thank the regions for having mobilised. The pace is really higher than last year," Dmitry Patrushev stated.
According to him, the threshold value of the grain food security doctrine has been reached in crop production that plays a huge and even crucial role in the implementation of the federal export project. The production volumes of sugar beet and oilseeds allow us to meet the indicators for sugar and vegetable oil.
"Our task is to further increase production and strengthen our positions. At the same time, there is a lot of work ahead to increase self-sufficiency in vegetables, melons, fruits and berries. We have identified a number of priority tasks in achieving our strategic goals. The first, of course, is a clear and strict adherence to scientific recommendations on compliance with technologies and production of crops. It requires constant monitoring in the regions," the Federal Minister stressed.
He also pointed out the importance of implementing the state federal programme, which is to be put into operation next year, for the effective use of new agricultural lands and the development of land reclamation, which will increase the volume of crops harvest in Russia.
Speaking at the meeting, the head of the Penza Oblast noted that agriculture occupies a leading position in the region's economy. The share of agriculture in the gross regional product exceeds 15%.
This year, the sown area in the Penza Oblast amounted to a record 1 million 504 thousand hectares, with a total area of the region's arable land of 2 million 200 thousand hectares. It is 51 thousand hectares more than last year. In recent years, Penza agricultural producers annually start using 30-35 thousand hectares of previously unused arable land.
"This year, cereals and legumes will have to be harvested from the area of 853.1 thousand hectares (+2.6 thousand hectares compared to last year). Sunflower - from an area of 328 thousand hectares (+60.4 thousand hectares compared to last year). Sugar beet - from an area of 53.9 thousand hectares. Soybeans are planned to be harvested from the area of 53.8 thousand hectares (+11.1 thousand hectares). The region's agricultural producers are fully provided with material and technical resources and fuel and lubricants," Oleg Melnichenko reported at the plenary session.
"Today grain and legumes have been threshed from an area of 536 thousand hectares (63% of the whole area). 1 million 468 thousand tons were harvested, with a yield of 27.4 c/ha. We keep almost the same pace as last year now. In terms of the grain and legumes yield, the Penza Oblast occupies the first place in the Volga Federal District. We will try to maintain the yield indicators that we had in 2020," the acting head of the region stressed.
In addition, he specified that hemp farming is actively developing in the Penza Oblast. The Konoplex group of companies is engaged in both agricultural production and processing of grown products and the region actively supports this project.
"The Penza Oblast is also a livestock region. And in addition to grain harvesting, we consider the provision of animal feed a very important task.
Forage crops occupy 120.5 thousand hectares in the region. As of August 12, 116.1 thousand hectares of perennial and annual grasses were mown, which is 96% of the plan," Oleg Melnichenko informed.
He expressed gratitude to the RF Minister of Agriculture for supporting the Penza Oblast agro-industrial complex.
"Our agricultural producers would not have been able to achieve such results without your help. Thanks to your support, 5.3 billion rubles of short-term concessional loans and more than 1.1 billion rubles of investment loans for the purchase of equipment went to the region's crop production industry in 2021. It greatly helps our work," Oleg Melnichenko emphasised, also expressing gratitude for extending the programme to reimburse the costs incurred for the construction and modernisation of facilities in dairy farming.
"This is a good additional incentive for our farms to develop and increase the volume of milk production," the acting governor added.
Dmitry Patrushev noted the increased attention paid by Oleg Melnichenko to the development of the Penza Oblast agro-industrial complex.
"I want to thank you for this. I really hope that you will stick to this trend in your work. It is planned to implement a large number of investment projects related to the agricultural industry in the Penza Oblast. And the support you provide at the regional level is very important," the head of the federal department explained.
"I want to assure you that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture will support those initiatives and investment projects that will be useful for the development of agriculture in the region," Dmitry Patrushev summed up.
