MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Russian agriculture is showing incredible success - exports of agricultural products are already many times higher than international arms supplies, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"We must never forget how important villages and people working in them are for us. We are proud of the achievements of those who work in agriculture, they are simply outstanding," Putin said, adding that such indicators were unthinkable in Russia a few decades ago.

"We couldn't even imagine that our agricultural exports would be many times higher than our arms exports," the president said. He also spoke of the unforeseen challenges that arose when Russia first began exporting grain. "You know what the problem was? Our ports were designed to receive grain, not to ship it. That was the technical problem we faced. And today we are the first country in the world in terms of wheat exports," he said.

Putin stressed that Russia's agro-industrial complex is becoming increasingly high-tech and sophisticated, but there are still unresolved challenges. For example, life expectancy in rural areas is lower than the national average. According to him, numerous measures are aimed at increasing this figure, including the continuation of preferential rural mortgages, the rural social development program, as well as the improvement of primary health care.

"We must increase this support. We will certainly do everything to assist industry, to help the social sphere [in rural areas]. If that is not enough, and there is always not enough money, the main thing is to look at how it is used and how effectively it is used. We will improve all these mechanisms," the president stressed.