20 Reasons Why the Agriculture Sector Is Seen As Critical to Russia's Economy

Agriculture has been arguably a flagship of the Russian national economy over the past 15 years
Russian agricultural production has increased by over 4% in 2016
Higher sales in the agricultural sector has stimulated demand for agricultural machinery
Russia has demonstrated its ability to tackle the issues of food safety and has significantly boosted export potential
Russia has thrived in the face of western sanctions, finding new target markets to export it’s agricultural produce
Russia still has a dependence on foreign technologies despite large-scale import substitution and export expansion. However it is now taking steps to address these concerns
Russia has domestically produced foodstuffs worth nearly $4 billion under the import substitution program
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has set the task of boosting exports of Russia’s agricultural products from $17 to $19 bln
The primary objective of the Russian government is to ensure they produce sufficient agricultural produce to feed themselves, wherever that is at all possible
They wish to create an environment for Russian companies to do business in international markets
The development of a broad range of state instruments of financial and non-financial support for non-resource exports
The development of a specific program of export crediting, the formation of export infrastructure including industrial zones, trade houses abroad and logistics facilities inside the country
Future participation in international exhibitions in close cooperation with development institutions of leading agricultural associations
Focus on the regulatory environment by lifting barriers and optimising procedures related to obtaining documents on international trade supplies, confirming zero rates, VAT refund and customs and tariff operations
The systematic state aid and efficient management in the agricultural sector, as well as searching for new growth areas, such as new market channels and technological independence
The development of crucial factors for maintaining and increasing growth rates in local agriculture
An aggressive external policy on acquiring shares and even whole companies that are the agro-technical leaders in the global market which will speed up the formation of a national technological base in this area
The successful accumulation of human and investment resources for carrying out research in cutting-edge areas
Integration of technologies e.g. Japanese centres of excellence and Brazilian corporation in agricultural research
The transition of brand new technologies to real growth sectors in agriculture