The Caucasus will provide Russians with fruit and vegetables

Source : http://vestnikkavkaza.net/m/a/62434

By Vestnik Kavkaza On August 7th 2014, food countersanctions against the EU, the USA, Australia, Canada and Norway were launched. As a result of a potential lack of some fruits and vegetables, which could be caused by breaking traditional import contacts, Russia has an opportunity to develop many branches of agriculture. Yuri Lachuga, a member of the RAS Presidium, the vice-president of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told Vestnik Kavkaza about the agricultural potential of the North Caucasus republics and its implementation.“Import displacement questions appeared suddenly and through no fault of Russia. But Russia has great opportunities for displacement of food imports, as production of raw materials is wide-scale, including in the North Caucasus,” Lachuga stated. “The North Caucasus produces various agricultural raw materials – grain, oilseeds, sugar beet and a lot of fruit, grapes. Recently a congress on development of viticulture and the wine trade was held; it was headed by Premier Dmitry Medvedev. The direction needs support and investment. We have many grape varieties which could be used for recycling and winemaking.”Speaking about fruit, the North Caucasus could produce a lot of pomaceous fruits (apples, pears) and stone fruits (plums, cherries). “I often visit various regions of the North Caucasus. A program for establishing orchards is being implemented, and ever more are being established each year; more resources are allocated,” Yuri Lachuga stated.At the same time, according to him, the sanctions have damaged Polish agricultural business: “We used to buy a lot of apples from Poland. We are sorry for the damage to the Polish farmers who used to export apples to our country, but it is not our fault. It was a decision by Europe, which should compensate for the losses to Polish farmers. We will develop our own fruit growing; and the North Caucasus is a favorable territory for this. Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Krasnodar Territory are regions which have great opportunities for production of them.”The expert said that self-production of vegetables and fruits is not something outstanding for Russia: “In Soviet times we had greenhouse complexes which exported products to Moscow – cucumbers, tomatoes, greens. Today the Ministry of Agriculture is taking measures. The Russian government has the will to increase the number of greenhouses in the North Caucasus. The North Caucasus is a sunny territory, and it could produce vegetables, saving energy. I know that a program is being developed today, and resources which will be allocated to agriculture (unfortunately, they are not great, but this is the structure of our budget) will be spent on development of fruit and vegetable production.”