Starting this year, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to begin offering each region plans for cultivating fields using unmanned equipment and agricultural drones.
Robotics, including the use of drones, has recently become an important trend in many industries, and agriculture is no exception.
The potential for unmanned equipment in agriculture is enormous, but experts believe it must be harnessed correctly and fully.
Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture is now actively working to ensure the effective implementation of these technologies in the agricultural sector.
«Crop production has great potential for the use of unmanned technology. However, we must work not only on new types of equipment but also on improving its operating algorithms, including through the implementation of artificial intelligence,» noted Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev.
In addition to unmanned systems, the Ministry of Agriculture also plans to regulate the use of domestically produced seeds. A significant import substitution process is currently underway in this area.
As Patrushev emphasized, regions will have to strive to simultaneously increase the effectiveness of research and reduce its timeframe.
Today, the agricultural ministry has approved a plan for the use of Russian seeds, which regions will be required to strictly adhere to.
Specifically, the goal for the development of domestic seed production is to achieve 75% self-sufficiency in domestically produced seeds by 2030.
It is emphasized that, based on last year’s results, this figure approached 70%, so this goal appears entirely achievable.
However, experts emphasize that the rate of transition to domestically bred seeds varies across crops. For example, sugar beet producers use only 25% Russian-produced seed.
However, analysts believe this is still an impressive result, as just a few years ago this figure was close to zero.
Moreover, farmers use Russian rapeseed seeds in 70% of cases, sunflower seeds in 60%, and corn in 50%.
Therefore, there is every reason to believe that the goal of achieving 75% seed self-sufficiency by 2030 appears entirely achievable, experts note.
Furthermore, it is possible that if progress continues at the current pace, it could even be achieved earlier than planned.
