Agroholdings are becoming larger – the countryside is emptying

The Federal State Statistics Service has summed up the final results of the 2021 agricultural micro-census. The main data is published on the Rosstat website.

“Microcensus” – because, unlike the usual, general, the number of questions is halved. It was held from 1 to 30 August 2021. In December 2021, the first results should have appeared. But they didn’t show up. The popular television program The Rural Hour, which has aired since the 1960s, even asked a rhetorical question: “Why are the results of the agricultural census hidden?” There were suggestions that they were not “hiding”, but “correcting”. Although how can you correct what is, figures and facts.

Preliminary results have been published since May of this year. Just published in full. It turns out that it took 15 months to bring the survey data into a single picture. Therefore, parallels were drawn with the general population census, the results of which sometimes did not coincide with the simultaneous data of the same Rosstat.

Comments on the results of the micro-census, including from official bodies, show the inconsistency of the general situation in agriculture and rural life. Characteristic in this respect are data on the production of the cheapest and at the same time the most widespread national food product, the potato. Until recently, 66% of it accounted for personal subsidiary plots (PSP). According to the results of the agricultural micro-census, their number for 5 years decreased from 16 million 589.8 thousand to 16 million 227.3 thousand. That is, for 362,500 households. Let us take into account that each such household is a family.

Accordingly, as calculated in the Center for Industry Expertise of the Russian Agricultural Bank, over 5 years, potato production in household plots has decreased to 52%. This trend is expected to continue.

The Union of Potato and Vegetable Market Participants believes: “There is nothing tragic, it is necessary to increase production in the organized sector, the industrial production of potatoes needs state support.”

“Organized production”, “industrial production” are the so-called agricultural holdings.

It is noteworthy that a year earlier, on October 14, 2021, at a government meeting, Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev announced that the state would additionally allocate an additional 5 billion rubles to the organized sector (that is, agricultural holdings) for the accelerated development of the potato and vegetable growing sector in 2022.

Why is this comparison interesting? Agricultural holdings are the most powerful associations, they prosper and make profits. Why do they need to allocate public money? On the contrary, they must feed the state with taxes. For example, it would be strange to allocate state financial assistance to Gazprom or Sibneft.

But they did not give money to personal subsidiary farms and do not give a penny. There is a nuance here – in order to receive a subsidy, you need to apply for self-employment and pay a tax of 4%. The villagers don’t want to deal with it.

They don’t ask for anything. Moskovskaya Pravda has repeatedly written that in order to increase, even sharply increase the production of potatoes, vegetables and fruits, it is only necessary to organize the purchase of them from the rural population and from the owners of summer cottages. Only and everything. It seems that the Ministry of Agriculture also understands. So, a month after the announcement of the allocation of an additional 5 billion to agricultural holdings, Minister Patrushev, at a meeting with President Putin, said: “Traditionally, most of the fruits and vegetables and potatoes are grown on the households of the population … Together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the regions, we organize direct sales by small producers, including personal subsidiary farms. Deliveries will be made to trading enterprises. (http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67091)

Does a drop wear away a stone? They began to wait.

A year has passed. “Potatoes and vegetables for household plots are unprofitable crops,” Vladimir Plotnikov, president of the Association of Peasant Farms and Agricultural Cooperatives of Russia, states today. – Dealers give a low price. And LPH does not have the opportunity to sell directly on the network. ”

So, one of the first main results of the census is the consolidation of agricultural holdings. At the same time, as First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut notes, agricultural holdings prefer to engage in simple crops – grain and oilseeds, which require less labor and resources, which have higher profitability. And which, let us add, are exported on a global scale.

Growing cattle, that is, providing the population with meat, milk and, accordingly, dairy products made from it, is also not very profitable for agricultural holdings. This is not the grain that I sowed in the spring – I sold it abroad in the fall. Here the result must be expected for years. Therefore, it is not surprising that almost two-thirds of the livestock are kept in peasant farms and in personal subsidiary plots.

For 5 years, the total number of cattle decreased from 19 million 342 thousand heads to 17 million 613 thousand. At the same time, 1,551 thousand heads are in household plots.

This is also a consequence of the second main result of the census – the reduction of personal subsidiary plots.

“The decrease in the number of small agricultural organizations, among other factors, leads to the “depopulation” of vast rural areas,” states Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Petrikov. A year and a half ago, at one of the meetings, it was noted that over the past 10-15 years, 20,000 villages have been completely depopulated. Out of 150 thousand.

In 2006, the priority national project “Development of the agro-industrial complex for 2006-2008” was adopted.

Then – “The State Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2008 – 2012”.

In 2013, Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 598 “On the Federal Target Program “Sustainable Development of Rural Areas for 2014-2017 and for the period up to 2020” was issued.

In 2019, the Program for the Comprehensive Development of Rural Territories for 2020-2025.

In December 2021, a government decree on amending the Program for the Comprehensive Development of Rural Territories. These additions provide for measures to help peasant farms and personal subsidiary plots.

Sergei Baimukhametov.

Photo exp.idk.ru