“Our market is open to foreign selection, and they import, in fact, ready-made forms. Nobody gives us parental forms. And we are very vulnerable in this situation. We will take certain actions that will encourage both foreigners and our producers, after all import parent forms ”, he explained.
Dmitry Patrushev noted that the Food Safety Doctrine approved the minimum threshold for seed self-sufficiency of 75%. Previously, the Ministry of Agriculture estimated that in 2022 the share of domestic seeds in the Russian market decreased by between 5% and 60%. At the same time, for a number of crops, their seeds are much less: for example, 41.8% of their own corn seeds, 23% of sunflower seeds, 6.7% of potatoes and 1, 8% sugar beet.
The idea of quoting seed imports at the Ministry of Agriculture began to take off last year in the context of sanctions. So far, only one foreign seed company has announced its decision to leave the Russian market. However, the Ministry of Agriculture has repeatedly stated that the vulnerability of the Russian agro-industrial complex in terms of seeds is high: in order to protect the market, it is necessary to develop our own selection and production of seeds.
At the end of last year, in the State Duma, Dmitry Patrushev announced that the Ministry of Agriculture would not make decisions on quotas for the import of seeds to the detriment of the harvest. “However, we will implement some restrictions to develop our own team,” he said.
