YAKUTSK, December 7. /TASS/. Yakutia’s authorities have allocated over recent three years more than 150 million rubles ($2.5 million) for modernization of reindeer breeding and fishery in the region’s 13 northern and Arctic districts, the republic’s committee on the Arctic affairs told TASS on Thursday.
"From 2015, the republic has allocated for reimbursement of expanses to modernize fishery and reindeer breeding facilities more than 150 million rubles," the committee’s representative Ivan Balanov said. "We have been supporting fishers and reindeer herders working in the Arctic and northern districts."
"Within this time, they have modernized equipment to process and store their products," he added.
The allocated money has been used for construction of six reindeer bases, five industrial shops and a processing plant, the official continued. The local fishers now have 15 new bases, seven processing plants and 30 shock-freezing systems and refrigeration containers. "More than 50% of the Arctic fish is produced in summer, and here the initial processing and storage are most important," he said.
According to him, now the local fishers and reindeer herders have guaranteed incomes, as the government undertakes selling their products. "Last autumn, at the fish fair in Yakutsk, our fishers sold 50 tonnes of product, and the city’s residents and guests could taste the product’s high quality," he added.
The state program will continue to 2020. Under it, the republic plans building at least 100 agricultural industrial facilities for the North’s traditional sectors.