MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Russia is capable of becoming the world’s leading supplier of healthy food, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual state of the nation address to the Federal Assembly on Thursday.
"We won’t only be able to feed ourselves given our land, water resources. Russia is capable of becoming the biggest global supplier of healthy, eco-friendly, high-quality food, which certain western producers have been lacking for a long time already," President said, adding that the global demand for such products is on the rise.
"In order to solve those ambitious tasks it’s necessary to focus resources on backing first of all those enterprises, which are demonstrating high efficiency. The program of the agricultural sector should be based on those principles. I mean large, medium-sized and small enterprises should all be effective. I’m asking the Agriculture Ministry to pay a special attention to it," Putin said.
Russia's agriculture saw rapid progress over a short period of time, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said.
"Last year exports of agriculture from Russia reached almost $20 bln, which is a quarter higher than revenue from military exports, and is around a third of gas export values. Our agriculture saw this rapid progress over a short yet fruitful period," he said. "Only 10 years ago we bought half of food products from abroad, we depended critically on imports. Now, Russia is among exporters, thanks to the farmers," he added.
Earlier, Russia's Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said Russia could export 30 mln tonnes of grain in the current agricultural year (July-June), which is half a tonne lower than the previous year.