OREANDA-NEWS. Dmitry Medvedev: Some time ago we came to an agreement with Mr Mitin (Novgorod Region Governor Sergei Mitin) to hold a meeting on developing modern greenhouse facilities and introducing new vegetable growing technology. Not long ago I went to Karachayevo-Circassia and visited a large greenhouse facility where vegetables have been grown for Moscow for a fairly long time – since 1980. They have their own ways of growing vegetables. But time zips along and today we are meeting at a new venue – you are using completely different, new technology. In any event, greenhouse vegetable growing is a very pressing issue for this country.

I’d like to make several points now. Everyone understands how important it is to have fresh vegetables and greens in the diet. Yet despite all our efforts, their consumption in this country is still lower than in other industrialised economies. The share of domestic produce in our shops is unacceptably small, especially in winter. Imports (everyone here understands this) are far from always being affordable and of proper quality. Some supplies are simply dangerous for the health because of excessive pesticides and nitrates. Rosselkhoznadzor (the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision) reveals such facts from time to time. A recent incident occurred with apples from Poland and Serbia, but this is just one of those cases when we have to react to imports.

Every year about 600,000 tonnes of vegetables are grown in our greenhouses. If we divide this amount by the strength of our population (which is easy to do) we get about four kg per capita per year. Doctors recommend that we should eat at least four times as much – about 15 kg of greenhouse vegetables per year. In order to meet this requirement we should at least double the production of greenhouse vegetables and bring their gross output to 1.1 million tonnes per year by no later than 2020. We should also increase the greenhouse area to 3,000 hectares as compared to the about 2,000 hectares today. This is a difficult task considering that most greenhouses are largely obsolete, as we know from our own experience. There are different ways of assessing wear and tear but in some cases it is up to 90%. That said, the wear and tear does not even matter so much as the current performance of greenhouses. Many of them are uncompetitive because they consume too much electricity and too much water. Naturally, all this overhead is reflected in costs and eventually results in high retail prices for consumers.

The state is spending much money to subsidise the construction and reconstruction of greenhouses. So-called seasonal duties have been introduced: 15% is added to the customs costs of many cultures – onion, carrots, cabbage, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. Support for greenhouse vegetable growing is also provided by regional programmes. The minister will tell us how many investment projects they have had. I don’t want to run ahead – Mr Fyodorov will have his say.

Before the meeting I walked around a new enterprise – Novgorod’s greenhouses. This is a modern complex indeed. They are using Dutch technology. It's too bad this is not our technology but, regrettably, we are far behind in this respect. For the time being we should use the best that is available. We have our own equipment and greenhouse facilities, and we should try to combine our producers with foreign technology. At any rate, this is particularly important for those regions where the conditions for other vegetable-growing options are more complicated.

We should pay attention to spreading the successful experience in using energy-saving equipment and the construction of modern greenhouses with the use of modern fixtures. I’d like to emphasise once again that we should use both our own and foreign technology.

Energy supply, which I have already mentioned, is one of the most urgent issues for greenhouses. I know that agrarians complain (and this is probably the main issue) of being fined for wasted gas. Heat expenses amount to more than 35% in the costs of vegetables grown in winter greenhouses.