Russian Agriculture Ministry sees great potential in Far East for development of seed production, breeding

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 4 (Interfax) - The Russian Agriculture Ministry sees great opportunities in the Far East not only for increasing the production of agricultural products, but also for developing seed production and breeding, Deputy Agriculture Minister Andrei Razin said during a session at the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.

"Scientists have made an important point for us: the Far East has the cleanest lands in terms of [the absence of] diseases, pests and the use of agrochemicals. Therefore, from the perspective of obtaining high-quality seed material and breeding work, the Far East could be in significant demand," Razin said.

In recent years, work has been underway in the agricultural sector on import substitution in seed production. "During this time, seed production for vegetable crops has emerged in the Far East, and we are beginning to develop seed production for a number of oilseed crops. Therefore, seed production is an additional element of good development that could allow for significant growth in production," he said.

At the same time, Razin particularly emphasized oilseed production, as up to 40% of Russian soybean production comes from the Far East.

According to estimates from the Agriculture Ministry provided in Razin's presentation, in line with the goal of increasing Russian agricultural production by 25% compared to 2021 by 2030, the harvest of oilseeds should increase to 2.4 million tonnes in the Far Eastern regions, grains to nearly 1.8 million tonnes, potatoes to nearly 270,000 tonnes, open-ground vegetables to 125,000 tonnes and closed-ground vegetables to 61,600 tonnes.