Russian Agriculture Ministry maintaining all agricultural support programs in 2025 - first deputy minister

MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - The Agriculture Ministry is maintaining all state support programs for the agricultural sector in 2025 despite the tightening of monetary policy, and has even managed to increase funding for key programs, First Deputy Agriculture Minister Elena Fastova told journalists.

"Last year was unprecedented in terms of state support. We ended it with a record 664.6 billion rubles, a figure never seen before," Fastova said. "These funds were distributed between three state programs: 530.6 billion rubles for the state agricultural development program, 94.8 billion rubles for the comprehensive rural development program and 39.2 billion rubles for the land program [focused on returning unused agricultural land into production and developing land reclamation]."

A total of 507.4 billion rubles has been allocated for 2025, Fastova said. This includes 350.9 billion rubles for the state agricultural development program, 115.8 billion rubles for the comprehensive rural development program and 40.7 billion rubles for the land program.

"Yes, this amount is lower than last year's final figure. However, I'd like to note that we also started last year with completely different figures - not 665 billion rubles. A lot will depend on the Central Bank's interest rate. If it does not decrease, we will seek additional sources to fulfill all obligations for subsidized loans and maintain support at last year's level," she said.

At the same time, all existing support measures have been retained for 2025, she said. "And despite the lower budget, the main types of support have actually been increased. Our traditional unified subsidy has been raised by 2 billion rubles - from 47.4 billion rubles in 2024 to 49.4 billion rubles in 2025," she said. "Within this subsidy, two key areas received additional funding - agricultural insurance [which has] increased by 1 billion rubles, [where] we see there is interest, and perennial plantations, [funding for which has increased] by nearly 2 billion rubles. The task of reaching self-sufficiency in fruit production is one of our top priorities," Fastova said.

Support for transporting agricultural products by rail will also increase, rising from 6 billion rubles last year to 8.3 billion rubles. "We have focused on Siberian regions, allowing us to subsidize grain transportation to the center [of Russia]," she said. "And the leasing of agricultural machinery will receive increased support. We understand that preferential loans alone are not enough for farmers to buy machinery. Last year showed that farmers were more willing to lease equipment. Therefore, in 2025, 11.9 billion rubles has been allocated for leasing support. Perhaps we will even increase this a little. In 2024, it was 8.3 billion rubles," Fastova said.

Support for the dairy industry will remain at last year's level, she said. "This sector is a top priority for us. We have developed a strategy for the dairy industry's development until 2030, and our goal is to support it in order to achieve self-sufficiency in milk production," she said. Support for small businesses and farmers will also remain unchanged at 7 billion rubles," she said.

The subsidy from grain export duties will remain at 10 billion rubles, while support for rural tourism is set at 700 million rubles.

Regarding agricultural enterprises in regions affected by counter-terrorism operations, Fastova said that all affected businesses have been given the option to extend and defer payments on loans and interest. "For those unable to continue operating, though there are only a few of them, we have maintained the old preferential lending conditions, with interest rates of up to 5%. And maximum opportunities for loan deferrals and debt freezes," she said.

The Agriculture Ministry has prepared a government instruction to compensate farmers in the Kursk region in amounts equal to the value of lost livestock, she said. This will be one-time financial aid from the government's reserve fund. "I hope we will be able to issue this regulatory act in the near future," she said.

Overall, the ministry will closely monitor the situation and provide additional support if needed, Fastova said. "We will do our best to assist farmers," she said.