Russian farmers have achieved tremendous success over a quarter of a century

Over the past 23 years, Russian agriculture has made an incredible leap forward. From total devastation in 1999, when Russia was forced to turn to the United States to receive grain on credit, to one of the world’s largest exporters.The exports of Russian produce have increased tenfold in just a few years.
Russian agriculture has made impressive progress over the past 23 years. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the volume of agricultural production in Russia has increased by 87% since 2000, the volume of grain and meat production has doubled, and fish catches have increased by 60%.

“This has made it possible to ensure food self-sufficiency in Russia and – think about this figure – to increase our exports by 30 times,” said the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev.

“If two decades ago our products were mainly bought by CIS countries, today we send significant volumes to Africa, South America and South-East Asia,” the minister said. “Despite external pressure, we consistently support the food security of a number of countries and this remains one of our main priorities,” he added.
In 2020, export earnings from the agricultural sector will rose to $14.4 billion, now rising to more than $45 billion in 2023. The growth in production and export volumes has resulted in the share of profitable enterprises doubling from 47% in 2000 to 86% today.

Russia is the world’s second largest exporter of grain and pulses, the largest exporter of wheat and fish, the second largest exporter of sunflower and rapeseed oil, and the third largest exporter of barley.

“The Russian Federation is a large and largely stable supplier on the world market of a wide range of agricultural products,” said the Russian Minister of Agriculture.

“If we were to briefly describe the state of agriculture at the time when Yeltsin left the post of President of Russia, the most appropriate terms would be devastation and collapse.

A good example is the amount of grain harvested in 1999. Domestic demand was 70 million tonnes, but only 56 million tonnes were prepared. To make up the shortfall, the government turned to the United States for 5 million tonnes of food aid.

Moreover, these supplies were to be made on credit. Russia simply didn’t have the money to pay,” says Maxim Maksimov, associate professor at the Department of Corporate Governance and Innovation at the Russian Economic University.
Agriculture was financed on a residual basis; there was no justified strategy for its development. “Enterprises in the agro-industrial complex had difficulty surviving, and a significant number of them went bankrupt as a result of very dubious transactions. Private money was in no hurry to enter the sector because of the low profit margins. And the Yeltsin-era principle of “the market will decide” actually blocked state aid and subsidies for agricultural needs. The concept of ‘food security for the country’ was not on the agenda at that time,” Maksimov notes.
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Russian farmers have achieved tremendous success over a quarter of a century

By Rhod Mackenzie Over the past 23 years, Russian agriculture has made an incredible leap forward. From total devastation in 1999, when Russia was forced to…