PM approves report on agriculture development program in 2008-2012
MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved a report on the implementation and results of a government program for the development of agriculture and regulation of markets for agricultural products, raw materials and food in 2012 and the period from 2008 through 2012, according to an order posted on the government's website.
The national report, prepared in line with the law on the development of agriculture, outlines the main results of the sector in 2012 and 2008-2012 by all the main parts of the program. It also assesses the fulfilment of targets, federal and industry programs for specific types of agricultural products and areas of activity, as well as a forecast for the agricultural sector's development in 2013 and proposals to adjust some specifics of the government program for development of agriculture in 2013-2020.
The draft of the report was discussed and approved by the government on April 25. The agriculture development program for 2008-2012 was approved by the government on July 14, 2007.
At the government meeting at which the program was discussed, Medvedev called it one of the most successful in Russia's history.
In the years of the program, Russia produced 52.451 million tonnes of animal and poultry for slaughter, 3.4% more than was planned for this period. Russia's agriculture sector received 730.5 billion rubles in government funding in 2008-2012.
However, the program did not manage to achieve the targeted production index. In the past five years, the actual agricultural production index (all producers, in constant prices) was 4.9 percentage points below the target, including 12.8 below for livestock farming and 1.3 percentage points for crop farming.
The Agriculture Ministry estimates that overall profitability in the sector amounted to about 15% in 2012, and only about 5% without subsidies. Nearly 20% of farms operate at a loss. Wages in agriculture amount to about 15,000 rubles per month, well below the national average.