Priority 2030 program becomes basis for launching two large research projects in Russia's agricultural sector - Lut

MOSCOW. Dec 2 (Interfax) - The Russian Agriculture Ministry's involvement in the Priority 2030 program has allowed it to set up two large research projects in the agricultural sector, Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut said at the 12th Innovative Practice: Science Plus Business congress in Moscow on Tuesday.

"Participation in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education's Priority 2030 program became the core for the formation of two large research projects in agriculture - a large agronomy project and a large livestock project. We are now sort of looking down from above, piecing together the puzzle of what our industry is lacking in order to move forward," Lut said.

Commenting on the special role of research in the industry, Lut said that at the moment "it is no longer possible to increase production and achieve something greater through quantitative multiplication alone, or you will start to stagnate". "This is where research comes in. It seems that a rebirth of research took place in our industry starting in 2022, and everybody began paying active attention to it; breakthroughs started to be made. Research felt that people were paying attention to it, and that it could finally create something," Lut said.

She said that the popularization of science was now very important in order for this area to be preserved and developed.

The Priority 2030 program is aimed at supporting Russia's higher education institutions. Its goal is to establish over 100 progressive, modern universities in Russia by 2030 to act as hubs for the country's scientific and socioeconomic development.

Lut also said that the industry currently had a multi-level staff training system, starting from agriculture classes in village schools. "We already have a thousand agriculture classes, and we need to increase this to 18,000 - that is our benchmark," she said. "We set up the agriculture classes in tandem with business. Business determines what kind of agriculture class the school in an agricultural territory should have, based on the area of business of the concrete company."

"We are looking for talented children who could later go into science, straight after school," Lut said, adding that the number of participants in the Innagrika project - a nationwide agricultural genetics contest for high school seniors - had increased to 24,000. "The children are very bright. Together with Innopraktika, we are currently looking at how to lead the children forwards so that they do not get lost and they pursue science," Lut said. "We had the same program with Sirius, too, where an agricultural camp was organized for the first time this year, with 100 children participating and 10 projects presented."

She said that agricultural colleges formed the basis for training the employees of the industry, 40% of which is made up of vocational professions.