Rustam Minnikhanov: Kamskoye Ustye region has high growth potential in agriculture

On August 23, during his working visit to Kamskoye Ustye municipal region of the republic, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov made a helicopter fly over the region's fields to inspect the course of the current harvesting campaign.

At his meeting with regional farmers and senior managers of agricultural enterprises Minnikhanov discussed in details the situation in the fields. The regional agro-industrial complex is mainly represented by two major holdings such as Ak Bars and Krasnyi Vostok Agro. Head of the region Pavel Lokhanov reported that 8,000 of 21,500 hectares of harvested areas have been threshed, which is 37 per cent. The dynamic makes 2.6 per cent daily. With an average yield of 30 centners per hectare, the grain growers have harvested 24,100 tonnes of grain.

He went on to report that the sowing of winter crops is underway in the region. As for today, farmers have sown 3,400 of 9,900 hectares (35 per cent).

According to Lokhanov, the current harvesting campaign is facing the problem of insufficient number of agricultural machinery. There are 35 combines operating in the fields, more than half of them are seriously worn out and require replacement.

Minister of Agriculture and Food of the republic Marat Akhmetov, who accompanied Tatarstan President, confirmed that the region has not renewed its technical capacities for a long time, with 80 horsepower per 100 hectares of arable land, which significantly affects the rate of harvesting.

Minnikhanov noted that modernization and renewal of farming machinery fleet is of the utmost importance for timely harvesting. He instructed the regional leadership to consider various options for solving this issue with representatives of major holdings.

"Kamskoye Ustye region has high growth potential in agriculture. But some indicators need to be improved," he added.