Measures to support small farms are being reduced across Russia, - Kamiyar Baitemirov

The head of the AKKOR division noted that the problems faced by small farms are not new. Currently, the COVID-19 epidemic continues to damage the economy.

‘Many support programs are being reduced, including in the Republic of Tatarstan: by 48%, only this year. Some problems are systemic in nature, they hinder the development of the entire sector. No matter how we talk about support, the problem of obtaining preferential loans, their availability, still hinders the development of small business forms. It seemed strange to us that the issue of subsidizing small businesses was transferred to the jurisdiction of the regions. It turns out that the farms completely depend on what the local authorities decide, how they imagine the needs and requests of agricultural producers,’ Kamiyar Baytemirov said.

He stressed that the situation with the support of small forms in Tatarstan is better in comparison with other regions.

‘We talked with representatives of Orenburg region — we have 300 million rubles pledged only for the support of agricultural consumer cooperatives, and they have 360 million rubles for all forms in general. Another limiting factor is that there are still unresolved issues in the land sector. We get calls every day about receiving or not receiving land. At one time, agricultural holdings mortgaged land, now all this is under the jurisdiction of banks, farmers cannot get this land. Moreover, there is enough unused land to meet the needs of peasant farmsteads. After all, there is still a problem of personnel; the migration of the rural population is not analyzed. There are not enough machine operators, veterinarians, livestock specialists — this is a problem of all farms, this is a nationwide problem,’ the head stressed.