Russian Minister of Agriculture at a meeting in Tatarstan: We live in competitive environment and want you to have new decisions, creative approaches for further development of agricultural complex

On July 11, speaking at a meeting on the state and prospects of Tatarstan livestock sector development, Deputy Prime Minister – Tatarstan Minister of Agriculture and Food Marat Akhmetov said that in January - June 2014 gross agricultural output of all categories of farms made 64.0 billion roubles or 104 per cent as compared to the same period of 2013.

The meeting was held by the Russian Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Fedorov, who arrived in Tatarstan on a two-day working visit (July 10-11, 2014) at a poultry factory OOO “Chelny boiler” in Naberezhnye Chelny.

Welcoming participants of the meeting, the Russian Minister called everyone, who is actively involved in development of the national agricultural industry, patriots of the Russian agricultural complex.

We live in competitive environment today and want you to have new decisions, creative approaches for further development of agricultural complex, the Russian Minister said.

Nikolai Fedorov presented some official figures related to the development of livestock industry. According to him, as of July 7, 2014, the import of meat decreased by 32.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, while the production of livestock and poultry increased by only 3.9 per cent for the same period in Russia. In general, he noted that such figures are promising for the agriculture, but it is necessary to increase production. The main thing is to deal with the task of import substitution, it is especially important in terms of providing food security of the country, he continued.

Ildar Khalikov, who took part in the meeting, thanked the Russian Minister for his visit to Tatarstan and assured him that the work to support the agricultural complex and farms will be continued.