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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with Minister of Agriculture Yelena Skrynnik

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Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: How's everything going? I'm listening.

Yelena Skrynnik: Out of the entire 48 million hectares of cultivated land, including 30 million hectares of land planted in spring, we have already cultivated five million hectares, mainly in the Southern, North Caucasian and Central Federal Districts.

This means that spring planting is proceeding at a regular pace, depending on the weather conditions. It corresponds to last year's rate.

We have changed the composition of our crops, designating 22% of the crops for fodder. It has been done to adjust to this year's grain market.

In addition, agricultural organisations have received credit on time and interest rates have been reduced, in accordance with your instructions. Agricultural companies have been provided with mineral fertilizers and fuel.

Vladimir Putin: Are prices for fertilizer and raw materials stable?

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes. In accordance with your well-timed decisions, we have reduced fuel prices by 10% as compared to December last year.

Fertilizer prices are also stable. The interest rate on loans is 12%. We monitor the situation every week. Agricultural companies have received a total of 78 billion roubles in loans for spring planting. We, in turn, have provided them with an additional 48 billion roubles, so everything looks fine. Agricultural companies have started spring planting, and they have many forms of Government support available to them.

Based on the results of the past three months, we have seen an increase of 3.6% in agriculture production, according to the Federal Service for State Statistics. The largest increases were in livestock, particularly in poultry, which grew by 14%, and pig breeding, which grew by 10%. These are higher than the percentages last year. Therefore, I would like to specifically mention those regions that have been most effective in using government funds to increase their livestock production. These are the Lipetsk Region, Mordovia, and the Belgorod region.

But unfortunately, there are also those regions where meat production has decreased, despite government support. These include the Smolensk and Kostroma regions. We are working with these regions, and we will assess their effectiveness based on the government programme and the indicators for the year, after which we will take appropriate action.