Russia (bbabo.net), - The 2022 planting campaign risks becoming difficult. Already at the beginning of February, the limit on preferential loans for agricultural producers was exhausted, which for this work needed seeds, fertilizers, fuels and lubricants and other resources to successfully complete the spring sowing. The authorities encourage farmers to apply for commercial loans, but representatives of the agro-industrial complex warn that this could spur food prices. According to the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, a proposal has been sent to Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko to allocate an additional five billion rubles from the government's reserve fund for soft loans.
According to industry representatives, this type of support for the agro-industrial complex tends to decrease. If in 2021 31.5 billion rubles were issued to finance previously received loans and about 15.6 billion for new loans, then in 2022 these amounts decreased to 19.6 and 1.5 billion, respectively. Recall that these funds are provided for up to a year at a rate of up to five percent per annum and can be spent on the current activities of agricultural enterprises. They are intended for crop growers, milk and meat producers, as well as for processing.
Peasant farms (peasant farms) and owners of personal subsidiary plots are now experiencing the greatest difficulties. This problem is especially acute in the northern regions, where it is especially difficult to engage in agriculture due to the harsh climate. According to Mikhail Silantyev, the head of the Association "Farmers of the Russian North" of the Arkhangelsk region, no loans are available today for small agricultural producers - either concessional or commercial. This is also evidenced by statistics: in 2021, peasant farms and individual entrepreneurs of the Arkhangelsk region reduced the production of chicken eggs by almost 50 percent, livestock and poultry for slaughter in live weight - by 16.7 percent, livestock - by 10.2 percent.
- In principle, small enterprises do not have the opportunity to take loans, - emphasizes Mikhail Silantiev. - Representatives of Rosselkhozbank told me that in the Arkhangelsk region they find about five new borrowers with great difficulty per year. To get a loan, you need to show that you have more money than you are going to borrow from the bank. In other words, to take a loan, you need to prove to the bank that you do not really need a loan. One of the main terms of a loan is a pledge that small businesses simply do not have. If the equipment has been in operation for more than three years, then it can no longer be a pledge. And the houses or apartments of small producers have most often been laid down for a long time.
Regions deal with this issue in different ways. In the Vologda Oblast, there are schemes under which a manufacturer can lease equipment for the duration of the harvesting campaign, although this is quite difficult and there are not enough types of equipment available for leasing. Nevertheless, farmers in the Vologda region can lease equipment without collateral and down payment, paying for it after the harvest. In addition, in the Vologda Oblast, farmers have the opportunity to supply their products to budgetary institutions. But this is not the case in the Arkhangelsk region. The overwhelming majority of Arkhangelsk farmers have already renounced this status and have taken shape as self-employed in order not to pay excessive taxes, and they trade their products most often illegally. De facto, in the agricultural sector of the region, the principle "it is easier to import than to produce on our own" applies.
Small agricultural producers today are practically inaccessible to any loans - either concessional or commercial
A similar situation can be called in the Murmansk region. According to the owner of a fur farm and three peasant farms, Konstantin Gerasimov, the existing farms in the region can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and they have long been teetering on the verge of closure. As a rule, regional authorities provide financial support only to large agricultural enterprises. The small ones get the crumbs that do not make the weather. In particular, a pig farm in the city of Apatity recently had to be liquidated, since there was simply nothing to feed the pigs.
“The purchase price at which we sell milk to processors has grown from 28 rubles to 29.2 rubles per liter,” emphasizes Konstantin Gerasimov. - And the prices for fuel and feed have increased significantly. For example, four years ago, a feed machine cost about 260,000 rubles, while the purchase price of milk was 28 rubles. Today, a feed machine costs $500,000 or more, depending on the protein content. Yes, the amount of grants for agricultural producers has been increased from 2.5 million to five million. But what can you buy with these five million?This is confirmed by Mikhail Silantiev: in each of the 19 districts of the Arkhangelsk region there are one or two peasant farms, and the trend of curtailing their activities continues. Farmers explain this by the fact that it is much easier for officials to work with large farms, of which there are about a dozen in Pomorie, than with hundreds of farmers. At the same time, the total amount of annual state support for agricultural production is about 1.1 billion rubles, according to the regional Ministry of Agro-Industrial Complex and Trade.
Small agricultural businesses today need cooperatives like air, and state support should be directed to their creation, Mikhail Silantiev is convinced. There is a federal law "On Agricultural Cooperation" and a state program to support it, which actually does not work. Meanwhile, this is one of the most successful agricultural practices in the world. For example, the well-known brand "Valio" is a large number of small farmers united in cooperatives of various specializations - some produce products, others process them, and others pack them.
- Officials say that within the framework of the state program to support cooperation, one cooperative can receive up to 70 million, - adds Mikhail Silantiev. - But the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation every year signs agreements with the regions that the region, which has created about five cooperatives, can receive 10-15 million rubles. However, today one tractor costs about five million, a small line for bottling milk - from three million. And also the cost of packaging and labeling.
According to the expert, one should use the experience of Norway, which over the past 30 years has managed to create effective agricultural production from scratch. The state itself was engaged in the creation of farms there for budgetary funds, and then provided them to those who wished, who after a certain period of time received the opportunity to become their owners. Representatives of the agro-industrial complex of the northern and Arctic regions are especially in need of such a scheme today.
P. S.
Citizens' personal subsidiary plots (PSP), which account for the majority of potato and vegetable production in Russia, can receive state support. Oksana Lut, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, stressed that this year, subsidies became available for the first time to citizens who run household plots and registered as self-employed. The ministry also plans to work out the possibility of including private household plots in the system of concessional lending.
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