Around 90% of winter grain crops in Russia in good and satisfactory condition - Mishustin

MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - Approximately 90% of winter grain crop plantings in Russia are in good and satisfactory condition, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a government meeting on Friday.

"Currently, about 90% of winter grain crops are in good and satisfactory condition, so we expect that spring field work will proceed successfully," he said.

Winter crops this year cover around 20 million hectares.

"I ask the relevant authorities to monitor prices for everything farmers need for sowing and respond promptly, providing assistance to our agricultural producers when necessary. They are now in the most critical period," he said.

Accelerating subsidy disbursements to agricultural producers and ensuring they have all necessary resources for spring field work, including fertilizers, plant protection products, machinery and fuel is important, Mishustin said, noting that the government continues to support farmers. "And of course, verified high-quality seeds of domestic breeding, as we've already achieved with grain crops, most of which are of Russian origin," he said. "Naturally, we expect the same for other agricultural crops."

The amount of agricultural insurance needs to be increased to reduce farmers' losses from adverse weather conditions, he said. In 2024, nearly 20% of all sown areas (over 15 million hectares) were insured under relevant contracts. In 2025, the amount of state-supported insurance will grow to 7 billion rubles, enabling more farmers to mitigate risks through insurance payouts.

As previously reported, according to the Agriculture Ministry, the total sown area this year will reach 83.7 million hectares, which is 1 million hectares more than in 2024. Of this total, 28.834 million hectares are allocated for spring grain crops (28.93 million hectares in 2024).