The RG correspondent spoke with government officials and experts to find out if farmers in the North Caucasus Federal District are prepared for a rapidly changing situation.
“To be honest, domestic seeds are quantitatively and qualitatively inferior to foreign ones, this is a fact,” Sergey Izmalkov, Minister of Agriculture of the Stavropol Territory, shares his thoughts. – But today, most of the research institutes that focus on solving this problem are in the orbit of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. I know that they received very good funds to create their own base. Naturally, this will take some time, as it takes five to eight years to develop new varieties. Science must restructure itself, as well as master the means assigned to it. In the future, one way or another, we will work with domestic seeds and varieties. They are the future. But so far it is very difficult. We are used to high rates and high returns. And then… a transition period is needed. Of course, there will be quotas. And if not in a year, then in two or three years, we will completely abandon the import of seeds. Preparations are underway, there will be a restructuring of the mentality within the region. The external environment has become more aggressive for our country, and we are forced to switch to domestic materials. This process is irreversible.
If not in a year, then in two or three years, we will completely abandon the importation of seeds.
It should be noted that talks about import substitution in the field of national team have been going on for quite some time. So, in 2016, the Stavropol authorities announced the start of production of highly productive hybrids of sunflower and corn, despite the fact that at that time up to 70 percent of corn seeds and 90 percent of seeds of sunflower were of foreign selection. Experts explain that for a long time the problem of domestic manufacturers was the lack of interaction in complex and expensive technological processes. For example, excellent varieties have already been produced in Russia, which are not inferior in quality to imported ones. But the producers did not have the opportunity to bring the seeds to the required condition.
Now, in order to establish production of its own seeds, the Stavropol State Agrarian University (SSAU) is preparing to open a new institute for agricultural breeding and genetics. It must solve the strategic tasks of providing agricultural producers with domestic materials.
The SSAU press service said that on the basis of the new institute, in-depth scientific and educational activities in the field of agrobiotechnologies will be carried out. According to the Priority 2030 program, the breeding and genetics laboratories for crops and livestock will be concentrated there.
The Institute lays the foundations for the future development of those areas of improvement and genetics, in which knowledge and technology must increase rapidly and even by leaps and bounds if the country aspires to independence in this matter.
