Greenhouse horticulture in the Far East needs support

In order to attract investment projects for the construction of greenhouses to the Far East and the Far North, the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Producers sent proposals to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia to provide additional measures of state support.

According to the press release, the partial compensation of the capital expenditures for new agricultural facilities has shown its effectiveness on almost the entire territory of Russia. However, in the Far Eastern Federal District, only 5 projects were selected to compensate for 20% of the costs while the scheme was in place (from 2015 to 2018).

In order to stimulate the attraction of investments to the Far Eastern regions, the Union suggests increasing the amount of compensations for the costs of building greenhouse complexes in these regions up to 35%.

In addition, taking into account the tariff policy of the Government of Russia, the energy costs for agricultural producers continued to grow in 2018. As reported by the Union, in 2018 the share of energy in tangible costs on the production of greenhouse vegetables increased by 44% on average. It is estimated that in 2019, with declared energy prices, the share of energy will exceed 50% in total costs of greenhouse complexes with lighting systems, depending on the location of the greenhouse complex.

All the above considered, in order to attract investments to the Far Eastern Federal District, to supply fresh vegetables to the population, as well as to develop exports, the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Producers believes it is necessary to provide concessional investment loans for the creation of greenhouse complexes to produce vegetables on the territory of the Far East from 2020 for the period of 12 years, and to introduce subsidies for 35% of capital costs and reimbursement of operational costs within a “single subsidy” from the federal budget for the procurement of energy.