Komsomolskaya Pravda: ”Government seeks insurance against heatwaves”
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin discussed important issues in the agricultural and fishing industries with ministers yesterday.
The meeting hosted by the prime minister focused on heatwaves as opposed to mere finances.
Putin stressed that, "temperatures are unusually high in key agricultural regions," such as Volgograd, Voronezh, Samara, Saratov, Ulyanovsk, and Orenburg, and the Republic of Tatarstan. He also suggested discussing agricultural risk insurance and the heatwave's possible impact on the harvest.
"According to my information, so far, no more than 10% of agricultural enterprises have been insured," the prime minister said.
Putin added that agricultural priorities include improving the living standards of the rural population and import replacement.
He also outlined the present situation in the fishing industry.
"In general, the situation is not bad," Putin said. "Aquatic biological resource production increased by 11.6% to 3.7 million tonnes in 2009, and positive results are predicted for this year as well."
The prime minister underscored the need to promote fish processing in Russia, build fishing vessels at Russian shipyards and develop sea ports.
Larisa Kaftan
