MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding a major end-of-the-year press conference, where he is expected to focus on economic issues, the situation in Syria, Russia-US relations and the Ukrainian peace settlement.
"As for the agricultural sector, there is, actually, some impressive growth, last year it was 2.6 percent, this year we planned 3 percent. At this point it is 4.1 percent, so by the end of the year it will be no less than 4 percent," Putin said.
Grain Harvest in Russia to Exceed 119Mln Tonnes in 2016
The grain harvest in Russia will reach the record high of over 119 million metric tons in 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"We have been happy for the farmers lately, we have been happy about the harvest results, it was said that it is a record in the last few years, 117 million tonnes. We will have more than 119 million tonnes [this year], this is an excellent result," Putin said.
"I want to thank farmers for this work, for this result. And I want to stress that there has been nothing like that in the recent history of Russia. In the Soviet period, on the territory where the Russian Soviet Republic was formed later, there were results like this in the 1970s, maybe even a little more than this in 1973, in 1976, but we know that at that time, even with that kind of harvest, there was, unfortunately, not enough food or forage," the president said.
According to Putin, "current attitude and current structural changes in the agricultural sector show that this result that we have is unique and it creates good opportunities for the further development of the agriculture."
Moreover, the Russian government will allocate 216 billion rubles ($3.5 billion) to the agricultural-industrial sector of the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin also said Friday.
"In 2017, the government plans to continue subsidizing separate sectors in need of state support. In total, 7.5 billion rubles are envisaged for the industry and 216 billion [rubles] for the agriculture," Putin said at an annual press conference.
He noted that the agriculture sector had seen a growth of over 4 percent so far.
The government has initially planned to allocate 204 billion rubles to the sector.