MOSCOW: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the government is to provide greater support to farmers, reports news agency Itar-Tass.
According to Putin, the government has invested more than 240 billion roubles (US$8.4 billion) in agriculture over the last five years.
For the current year, the Prime Minister announced the government will allocate 150 billion roubles (US$5.3 billion) to agricultural development.
The same amount shall be extended in the form of loans by Russia’s largest bank Sberbank (50 billion roubles) and agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank (100 billion roubles).
The program is tailored especially to owners of smaller individual farms and will make it easier for them to access credits.
"I want the banks co-owned by the state to get this clear message – go and work with farmers, with small and medium businesses in the countryside, and not only with large enterprises," Putin said. "State-owned banks should solve public problems, on a market economy basis, but a focus on public interest."
Russia has more than 100,000 individual farms.
Sources: www.itar-tass.com, www.en.rian.ru
