Minister of Agriculture of Tatarstan reports on the progress of preparation of equipment for the sowing campaign in 2018

On March 24, speaking at a video conference held by Tatarstan Prime Minister Aleksey Pesoshin with participation of all municipalities in the Government House of the republic, Minister of Agriculture and Food of the republic Marat Akhmetov reported that as many as 11,000 tractors, 6,000  sowing machines, more than 5,000 cultivators, and over 600 sowing complexes will be used in the sowing campaign in 2018.

Akhmetov made a report on the technical component of the industry. In particular, he said that 5-6 billion roubles are spent every year to update the tractor park in the region and that about 4,000 units of machinery and equipment are purchased. Technical modernization has made it possible to contain the decline in the energy supply of the agroindustrial complex, and then to ensure its growth up to 159 horse powers per 100 hectares of crops and to double labour productivity in the agro-industrial complex over the last five years, he continued. 

Speaking about high-performance equipment, the Minister noted that there are 628 wide-coverage sowing complexes together with energy-packed tractors. However, not all farms use them effectively. Thus, in some farms their capacity  reaches up to 6,000 hectares, while others have only about a thousand, he went on to report.

“All heads of farms should understand that low cost and high salaries are ensured by high productivity,” Akhmetov said.

Speaking about the preparation of equipment for the seasonal field works in 2018, he reminded that the equipment should be ready by the 1st of  April and that  the state of sowing units makes it possible to perform preparatory work in two weeks.