
The agricultural lands of Smolensk region amount
to 1.74 mln. hectars which is 55% of the available land of the region. Area under crops is
591.2 thousand hectares, including the areas in agricultural organizations - 478.2
thousand hectares.
Agricultural produce is generated by 425 agricultural organizations, 1713
private farms and 150 000 individual households. Agricultural organizations are major
producers of grain (78%) and flax products (85%). Potatoes and vegetables production is
mainly concentrated in individual households - 98% and 94% respectively. The main
specialization of local agriculture is dairy, meat and dairy cattle breeding, feed and
forage production, flax growing and potatoes growing.
The base of the agricultural economy is cattle-breeding, where 82% of the
gross agricultural product is produced. As of beginning of 2005 the cattle stock in all
categories of agricultural producers amounted to 185 thousand, including 109 cows.
"Shvitskaya" and "Sytchevskaya" breeds dominate.
Smolensk region is one of the major producers of pedigree cattle, raised in
specialized farms.
The pigs livestock amounts to 85.4 thousand, sheep and goats livestock -
34.7 thousand, horses - 1.7 thousand.
Poultry farming is concentrated in large factories located in the vicinity
of Smolensk - SPK "Prigorskoye" and "Smetanino". The poultry livestock
amounts to 699.7 thousand. bout 287.1 mln. eggs were produced in 2005.
All categories of agricultural enterprises produced 372.6 tons of milk and
sold 49.6 tons of cattle and poultry slaughter weight.
Plant growing is specializing in the production of forage and grain crops,
flax, potatoes and vegetables.
In 2005 148.6 thousand tons of grain, 436.8 thousand tons of potatoes, 128
thousand tons of vegetables and 4.6 thousand tons of flax fiber were produced.
The flax production growth was accelerated by attracting new investments
through the JSC "Federal contractual corporation "Roskontrakt" and JSC
"Flax of Moscovia", that are currently playing an important role in the regional
flax production.
Gross agricultural product in all categories of agricultural organizations
amounted to 11.7 bln. rur in 2005 which is an 92% increase as compared to 2004,
operational profit exceeded 47.3 mln. rur with profitability of 2.9%.
Below are indicated major plant growing positions in all categories of
agricultural organizations:
The state support of the agricultural producers is provided through special
purpose programs. There are 6 regional special purpose programs aimed at the development
of the agricultural sector being implemented in 2005.
• "Social development of rural areas till the year
2010" program envisages construction (acqui-sition) of housing, establishment of
educational institutions, health care institutions, electrical and telecommunication
networks, development of gas and water supply systems and road construction;
• "Development of the agro-industrial complex of Smolensk region between
2005-2010" stipulates development of cattle-breeding, plant growing, forage
production, financial support of young professionals and individual households, subsidies
of interest rate on loans and other measures;
• "Electronic Smolensk region" is aimed at the development and
availability of information access at agricultural enterprises;
• Currently 3 programs on improvement of veterinary services and preventive
measures are being implemented.
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