MOSCOW, January 30 (Itar-Tass) —— Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will chair a meeting on livestock breeding in Russia as part of his working trip to the Tambov region on Tuesday, January 31.
The participants in the meeting will review the industry’s performance in 2011 and map out prospects for its development, including in the light of Russia’s admission to the World Trade Organisation.
“Special attention will be paid to factors that curb the growth of dairy farming and cattle breeding, as well as to how to make these sectors more cost efficient,” the government press service told Itar-Tass on Monday, January 30.
It is expected that Putin will take a tour of the Inzhavinskaya poultry farm where an investment project has been launched to build a facility with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes of fowl meat a year.
The Russian government says that livestock breeding is an important sub-industry of not only in the agro-industrial sector but also in the entire national economy. Over the last six years, it has grown by 22.5 percent. Cattle and poultry production has increased by 3.3 million tonnes (43 percent), mil production by 564,000 tonnes (1.8 percent), and egg production by 3.9 billion eggs (10.4 percent).
Considerable amounts of money have been put into the industry in the form of investments and loans – 576 billion roubles, and more than 120 billion roubles were disbursed to subsidise interest rates under investment loans.
First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, Minister of Regional Development Viktor Basargin, Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, the heads of agricultural enterprises, unions and associations will accompany Putin on the trip.
Putin also plans to visit the local children’s sport school to meet athletes with disabilities who engage in downhill skiing.