August 25, 2015, 11:54 pm / Business

The Ministry of Agriculture will increase subsidies for vineyards

Thus, he intends to support the industry Maria Kunle

Loza will be given a support / D. Abramov / Vedomosti

The Ministry of Agriculture is ready to multiply subsidies for the development of viticulture, Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev told Vedomosti through the press service. For planting vines, 86,000 rubles/ha will be allocated (currently – 50,000 rubles/ha), care – 20,000 rubles/ha (will not change), installation of a trellis – 60,000 rubles/ha (20,000 rubles/ha). ha), he lists. The department’s budget for 2016 has already included 2.4 billion rubles. for these purposes. This is 2.3 times higher than the level of 2015, Vedomosti’s source in the ministry knows.

The budget process has not yet begun, but the government actually supports increasing subsidies, confirms the representative of Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who oversees agriculture in the government. For example, from June 1, farmers received the right to produce still and sparkling wines from their own grapes without registering as alcohol producers. And last week, the Ministry of Agriculture received the right to determine state policy and regulate the production of wine and champagne by agricultural producers, recalls the representative of the Deputy Prime Minister.

At the end of last week, Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev, in an interview with Rossiya 24, said that the import of wine materials - raw materials for wine production - should be limited. He noted that it is now more profitable to bottle foreign wine than to produce domestic wine: “When a farmer starts planting [vines], the payback period is 15 years, it’s easier to import a tank from South Africa.”

We are not talking about decisions in the near future, explains the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture: the state is only paying attention to a new strategic priority - the development of viticulture and winemaking. “The task of the Ministry of Agriculture is to protect domestic winemakers and consumers from low-quality wine, and most importantly, to recreate the Russian wine industry,” he emphasized.

Grape hectares

90,000 hectares - this is the area currently occupied by vineyards in Russia, according to estimates by the President of the Union of Winemakers and Winegrowers Leonid Popovich

Another measure to support winegrowers is the right to apply for subsidized investment loans, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture also reminds (the government decree was signed on July 28).

If the Ministry of Agriculture fulfills its obligations and effectively supports the industry, the area under vineyards in Russia could increase annually by 10,000 hectares or even more, says Leonid Popovich, president of the Union of Winemakers and Winegrowers. “The industry must have confidence that the support will last for years, then they will go to jail,” Popovich believes.

But it will not be possible to attract new investors, given the rise in price of seedlings, irrigation systems, equipment, etc. along with the currency, with the help of the declared subsidies, fears General Director of the Legend of Crimea Group of Companies Mikhail Shtyrlin. The minimum level of investment per hectare, according to his estimates, is 1 million rubles.