Russian agriculture slow to increase self-sufficiency in seeds - minister

KAZAN. Aug 19 (Interfax) - Russian agriculture is slow to increase self-sufficiency in seeds, Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut said.

"What are your thoughts on self-sufficiency for seeds? We've slowed down somewhat [in the development of new varieties and hybrids], that's clear. We're now reaching a plateau from which it will difficult to move forward in terms of the effectiveness of our seeds," Lut said at the "Russian Field-2026" All Russian Forum on Breeding and Seed Production in Kazan on Wednesday.

She said the share of domestic seeds in the agricultural sector was 69.3% in 2025. According to a presentation, this increased 1.7 percentage points from 67.8% in 2024, when it grew 5.1 pp.

Lut said cooperation could speed things up. "We need cooperation. Developing a variety or hybrid used to be a separate, relatively narrow area, but now it's an interdisciplinary one," she said. "So we need to cooperate across various disciplines in order to gather pace. I'm often criticized for saying we need to develop [new varieties and hybrids] in two to three years. A lot of skeptics say seven to ten years is the norm, it always has been. But if we go on like this we'll fall behind everyone else, and we won't have our own seeds at all. Speed is the essence in the modern world and in modern agriculture. The broader our geography, while simultaneously testing and experimenting with each of our developments, the sooner we'll achieve universality on the one hand and addressability on the other," Lut said.

But must be mutually beneficial. In this regard, Lut mentioned the creation of shared-use centers in Russia. "Shared-use centers are our key task," she said, citing the Vavilov cluster, which has put the conditions in place to develop new varieties and hybrids. But this only has 15 residents. "This isn't a lot. We need to invest more in it; this is vital," she said. "The center must be used to reduce research costs while achieving results," she said.

A similar center for the livestock sector, Genbiotech, should open soon in Kazan.

Lut also said a predictive breeding platform (PUSK, or accelerated plant breeding platform) had been created at the Timiryazev Academy. It has 86 participants, which are research and educational institutions from both the Agriculture Ministry and Education and Science Ministry. The platform was created to develop and market new varieties and hybrids more quickly.

The food security doctrine states that the Russian agricultural sector must be 75% self-sufficient in seeds by 2030.