This was stated by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at the plenary session of the Eurasian Congress.
As Mishustin noted, in general, in terms of food security, Russia occupies one of the best places in the world among other countries.
For example, last year the targets reflected in the president’s national security strategy were achieved.
Moreover, targets were even exceeded in a number of areas.
For example, this applies to wheat (overfulfillment was double for this product), as well as vegetable oil, fish, sugar, and meat.
The production of potatoes and vegetables has not yet reached the targets, but is quite close to them, the prime minister believes.
There are some problems with dairy products, but this niche is well covered by Belarus, which supplies its milk to the Russian market.
In addition, Russia does not yet produce enough beef, this issue is being resolved thanks to the supply of meat from Brazil and Argentina.
EAEU countries will coordinate efforts
Mishustin also noted that the EAEU countries (except Russia and Belarus, which include Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan) have also achieved food security in general.
Moreover, many of them are actively involved in the export of agricultural products. This applies to wheat, barley, as well as corn, butter and frozen fish.
As the Russian prime minister noted, if the countries join forces, they will be able to produce twice as much agricultural products as their population needs, and this will make it possible to take a leading position in exports.
To coordinate efforts, it is now planned to create an emergency food fund of the EAEU countries, as well as to conduct operational monitoring of the level of food security in each individual country.
Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the HSE Center for Market Research, emphasizes that the fund will help unite the capabilities of all member countries of the union.
“They will distribute agricultural products for export and import. There will be participation in financing, investments.
The European Union does the same. This is how not only relations in the agro-industrial complex are controlled, but also in other industries,” he said.
At the same time, in order to fully realize the agricultural potential of the EAEU countries, they need to actively develop their logistics and transport, as well as increase their availability of water resources and take into account current climate change, Mikhail Mishustin believes.
