The Kaliningrad region, due to its remoteness from the main territories of the country, is considered one of the most problematic regions of Russia. Difficulties in this part of the Russian Federation are often experienced by both industrial companies and agricultural enterprises. However, despite this, for example, agriculture in the Kaliningrad region has recently experienced a certain upsurge, as almost everywhere in the Russian Federation.
Region features
Since the days of the USSR, the Kaliningrad region is considered one of the most developed regions in terms of agriculture. It is enough to say that only 800 thousand hectares of land are occupied under arable land, which leaves 60% of the territory. At the same time, 92% of such sites in the region are reclaimed. The only thing in the region even today requires large funds to drain some land.
Specialization
Fairly well in the Kaliningrad region, both livestock and crop production are developed today. The first in agriculture in the region accounts for about 47%, the second - 53%. The region has a small territory. Moreover, traditionally, part of the products from here are imported to Europe. Therefore, the share of livestock and crop products supplied to the domestic market from the Kaliningrad region is usually low. In most cases, it does not exceed 0.5-1% of the total indicators in Russia.
Plant growing
This industry is currently one of the most important in the economy of the Kaliningrad region. Many varieties of crops are grown in the fields in this part of Russia. This region supplies a lot to the domestic and world markets, for example, rapeseed. By the volume of cultivation of this crop, the Kaliningrad region often takes even the first places in Russia. The following types of agricultural plants are also quite popular in this region:
- triticale;
- buckwheat;
- corn;
- wheat;
- rye;
- barley;
- oats;
- legumes.
In addition, quite a lot in the Kaliningrad region is grown mustard, potatoes and vegetables.
Livestock
Agriculture for the Kaliningrad region is, of course, a promising industry. This is especially true for livestock. There have always been a lot of such farms in this region. Agricultural enterprises of this orientation in the region specialize in the cultivation of a wide variety of animal species. There are a lot of sheep farms in this region, for example. Also, farmers in the Kaliningrad region grow goats. The second most common livestock sector after the IFA in this region is poultry farming. In the region, good indicators are recorded for the supply of chicken and egg meat to the market.
It is believed that pig farming is well developed in the Kaliningrad region. Also, some farms in this region contain dairy cattle.
What are the problems
In the Kaliningrad region, as almost everywhere in Russia, today there is a slight increase in agricultural production. The harsh crisis of the 90s of the last century, when most of the arable land in the region was abandoned, and there was nothing to feed cows, pigs and goats, is now almost completely overcome. However, of course, even today the region is experiencing some problems with the development of agriculture.
The main problems of this sector of the economy in the Kaliningrad region today are:
- high competition in the market due to the importation of cheap food from Poland and Lithuania;
- lack of an adequate mechanism for medium- and long-term lending to farms;
- low volumes of fertilizer;
- rather weak forage base.
In recent years, in the Kaliningrad region there has been an increase in the production of meat of small cattle, pork and poultry. Unfortunately, this cannot be said about beef. Beef cattle in this region is practically not bred. Beef production in the region continues to decline.
In crop production, the main problem in the Kaliningrad region is low fertilizer application. Farms in this region are also not fully equipped with equipment at the moment.
The most serious problem of agricultural enterprises of the Kaliningrad region, specializing in crop production, is the swampiness and the extinction of land due to rains. Because of this, farmers and large agricultural enterprises in the region today suffer enormous losses.
In Soviet times, land reclamation work was carried out on vast areas on state and collective farms of the Kaliningrad region. Now the land in the region is largely divided into shared plots. Accordingly, it is quite problematic to cooperate owners in order to carry out the necessary drainage work.
Farmers problems
Unfortunately, the share of peasant farms in the Kaliningrad region for 2018 is only about 5%. About a quarter of farms are working successfully in the region. In any case, like many other peasant farms in Russia, peasant farms in the Kaliningrad region experience the following problems:
- lack of fertilizer or animal feed;
- scarcity of markets.
But, nevertheless, it is believed that farming in this region is developing quite well. This is especially true for cattle breeding farms. A huge share in the production of milk in the Kaliningrad region falls on farmers. About half of such products supplied by the region to the market today are produced by peasant farms.
Development prospects
The basic foundations for the development of agriculture in the Kaliningrad region were laid in 2006. Then, the leadership of the region determined the priorities for the development of the agricultural sector. Also in 2006, the principles of industry support from the authorities were formed. The next few years in the region paid maximum attention, for example, to the development of livestock breeding, the training of qualified personnel, and developed, albeit not perfect, but still more or less working credit schemes and relations between farmers and banks.
Quite a lot on the part of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kaliningrad Region for the development of agribusiness in the region was done in 2018. Unfortunately, from that time on, quite strong producers of the region with a turnover of over 100 million rubles were already quite strong. began to pay VAT per year. Smaller farms have so far been relieved of this obligation. But at the same time, VAT in the region is included in the cost of fertilizers, fuel, etc. That is, large farms subsequently return a portion of their money to themselves.
The measures to support regional farmers and agro-industrial complex adopted last year by responsible structures and the governor of the region, Anton Alikhanov, include, first of all, cancellation of the utilization fee for equipment. The regional authorities believe that such a decision will facilitate the equipping of the agricultural machinery park for business executives.
The grant system in 2018 allowed to attract Kaliningrad farmers to engage in vegetable growing. Prior to this, there were very few farms with similar specialization in the region. Also, many farmers in the Kaliningrad region in recent years engaged in the cultivation of oyster mushrooms and champignons. This direction in the region is also recognized as very promising.
Since 2006, the region has constantly increased the production of potatoes, cabbage and beets. Thanks to the support of the authorities, since about 2016, the region has also begun to improve indicators for the cultivation of Beijing and Brussels sprouts, carrots, broccoli. The authorities intend to support this area of crop production in the region further.
Cheese dairies
Another promising agricultural sector in the Kaliningrad region is considered to be cheese making. Currently, small enterprises of this specialization are developing quite actively in the region. Since goat breeding is well developed in the region, cheeses are produced here most often from the milk of these animals.
In order to support the agro-industrial complex in 2018, the procedure for signing agreements with large realtors was also simplified by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kaliningrad Region. Previously, the need to consider multi-page contracts often even frightened novice entrepreneurs.
Success
Thus, the agricultural industry in the Kaliningrad region is recognized as more than promising. Over the past few years, in terms of the development of the agricultural sector, its employees, with the support of the administration and governor Anton Alikhanov, have achieved significant success. Even 5-10 years ago, on the shelves of shops in the region, you could see mainly imported agricultural products. Today, the region provides itself with similar goods almost 100%.