Volodin: Agriculture in Russia Russia has ceased to be a "black hole"

Agriculture is an advantage of the Russian economy, it has ceased to be a "black hole": the industry actively uses the most modern technologies, robotics and artificial intelligence. In addition, if we take the export potential, the budget receives more funds from the sale of agricultural products than from weapons. This was stated by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the government hour held in the lower house of parliament on the topic "Development of modern production technologies and deep processing in the agro-industrial complex as the basis for Russia's food security and food availability for the population."

"It's good when the industry demonstrates such results despite challenges. After all, the first to face sanctions were our agricultural workers. But it forced them to mobilize and concentrate somewhere. Today we export our products in all key areas. There is something to strive for. Not everything is done. But we must admit that there is no such situation as it was, for example, in the 80s, in the 70s, in the 90s," he said.

"If we recall the history of the development of our country, before 1917 the problem was food security, — said Volodin. — 70 years of Soviet power: the flight into space of the first man, many other achievements, and in agriculture — they could not feed themselves. Because of this, the country collapsed. Queues. We went to Moscow for sausage. The number of cows was huge, but they were milked like goats. Today we export grain, oil and other products abroad."

Nevertheless, according to the chairman of the State Duma, noting the successes of the industry, it is necessary to work on solving problems.

"The government's proposal was the right one — to consider issues through the prism of, among other things, increasing labor productivity and to study issues that, if we decide, will help the industry develop even more efficiently in the future," Volodin said.

According to him, the share of the agro-industrial complex in the gross domestic product is growing. But there are problems that the deputies will also draw the government's attention to: the rise in the cost of equipment, its operation over a 10-year service life.

"We support our colleagues, noting their effectiveness. They are competent, professional people, so they will find solutions to these issues. That is why we also need to talk about this today. If we recognize the problems, then we will look for their solution," Volodin added.