Krasnodar, 7 October. Our today’s guest is Andrei Korobka, Vice Governor of Krasnodar krai responsible for the agricultural sector.
Q.: How did the adverse weather activity affect this year’s harvests?
A.: At the beginning of the summer, hail damaged over 10,000 hectares of crops, including sunflower, soya and wheat. Then in August, heavy downpours damaged over 1,000 hectares of vineyards, located mostly in Temriuk rayon. The viticulturists are continuing remedial works on the damaged vineyards. Tentatively, the yield losses are evaluated at 15 to 20%, or more than 600 million roubles. The same mesocyclone damaged many rice fields: 18 rice-growing farms in Slaviansk rayon were affected. Over 13,000 hectares of the paddy fields were literally submerged; about 2,000 hectares of the crop were lost.
Q.: Are there any aid tools that can help the farmers in such situation?
A.: In Krasnodar krai, suchlike cataclysms occur once every five years, which is why the farmers that operate outdoors have no other way-out than to insure their crops. Unfortunately, too few seem to fully understand this, relying on a bit of luck, and unless they personally bump into an emergency situation they tend not to think about risks. This year, we assigned around 276 million roubles as governmental support for agricultural insurance: farmers should pay only 50% of the insurance fee, while the rest is covered by state. The examples of this year proved that insurance benefits can cover the losses.
Q.: What part of the grain yield is to be exported, and what will be their share in the general structure of exports from the Kuban region?
A.: The region’s export plans in the framework of the national project “International cooperation and export” are USD 2.7 billion. Grain export occupies more than 63% of the total volume of agricultural exports. I believe that by the end of this year we will export about 8 million tons of cereal crops. At the same time, the share of cereals in the general structure of exports from the Kuban region is gradually lowering. Some five years ago, cereals accounted for 87% of the total volume of agricultural products exported by Krasnodar krai.
Q.: What other cultures can be grown in the Kuban region, in addition to the customary cereal crops, fruits and grapes?
A.: Krasnodar krai is the only Russian region engaged in the industrial production of tea, and by the way it is one of the northernmost tea-growing regions in the world. However, due to the shortage of the tea-fields, we cannot even satisfy our domestic demand.
Follow our news on Facebook
За всеми важными новостями следите в Telegram, во «ВКонтакте», «Одноклассниках» и на YouTube
