The performance of the agricultural industry of Smolensk region

Smolensk regional Philharmonic Society hosted the ceremony of summarizing the results of the work of Smolensk region agro-industrial complex in 2014 and awarding the rural workers who showed outstanding results.

Agriculture is the key area of the economy of the region. More than 270 thousand people, or almost every third resident of the region, live in the rural area. 260 organizations, around 300 farms and more than 178 thousand people, having private farms, are involved in the agricultural production. The share of the agro-industrial complex in the gross regional product amounts to 7 percent. In 2014, all categories of farms will produce about 22 billion rubles the gross agricultural product.

The Governor pointed out the optimistic figures for 2014 which testify to the high potential of the agricultural industry of Smolensk region. This year the agricultural companies have sold products for 6 billion rubles, which is 1.3 billion more than in 2013. It is estimated that 65% of the total number of the farms will be profitable.

These figures are mainly the results of the Agrarian Policy, which is implemented by the present Administration of the region and aimed at reaching strategic objectives and solving current problems. For example, in 2014 1 billion 100 million rubles of the state support, including 500 million rubles from the regional budget and 600 million rubles from the federal budget, were allocated to the development of agriculture.

Speaking about the future objectives, Alexey Ostrovskiy stressed the fact that during the spring planting season the farms of the region received support in the form of 1,500 tons of mineral fertilizers free of charge.

The Head of the region focused on the active work of the regional Administration to create favorable conditions for investments in the agricultural sector of the region by forming investment sites. To do it a lot of attention is paid to solving the land issue and finding effective owners of agricultural farms. Budget and private investments are the determining factor in the development of agricultural production. In recent years, 9.3 billion rubles of state support and private investments were allocated to the development of the agricultural industry. The budget support of the sector amounted to 4.6 billion rubles, the investments amounted to 4.7 billion rubles.

Thanks to the efforts of the rural workers of Smolensk region, today the region has a full supply of products that form the food basket – they are potatoes and eggs. However, there is a need to catch up in production of vegetables, milk and meat. These are the objectives for further development. The region provides more than 90% of milk for itself. The growth of milk production will be achieved through launching 5 mega-farms at the already formed investment sites.

In 2014, the third nationwide modern plant for cleaning and preparation of seeds of perennial grasses, which can meet the needs not only of regional producers in quality seed material at affordable prices, was launched.

Today we can say with confidence that the region has managed to keep the flax industry and greatly improved the quality of the production. Moreover, Smolensk region has not given up its position and still is one of the leading flax-planting regions of the country, and the second one in the Central Federal District.

Integrated development of the agricultural sector is directly linked to the sustainable development of rural areas. Over the past three years the statistics of providing housing for the citizens in rural areas have improved, 16,500 square meters of housing, including for young families and young professionals, have been built. Each year, the living conditions in rural areas are improved for 70-80 families. There is positive dynamics in the development of engineering infrastructure in rural areas. For the past three years, about 400 kilometers of gas distribution networks and 100 km of local water pipes have been built.

Further development of the agriculture of Smolensk region involves forming investment sites, increasing the rate of technical modernization of production facilities, setting up logistics centers for processing, storage and sale of products, further improvement of the social sphere, introduction of scientific developments in the production process.

At the end of his speech, Alexey Ostrovskiy awarded valuable gifts to the veterans of the agro-industrial sector of Smolensk region, as well as federal awards, regional nominal prizes of the agro-industrial sector, diplomas for a number of nominations, cash prizes, the cups "Best Manager of 2014" and "Best Professional of 2014" to the managers and specialists of the agricultural sector of the economy for their outstanding achievements.