Import of foreign seeds into Russia may be limited, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko.
The issue of introducing quotas on the import of foreign seeds to Russia is being worked out in the government and a decision on it may be made soon, the Deputy Prime Minister said in an interview with RIA Novosti on the sidelines of SPIEF.
According to her, the Russian authorities met with the Association of European Businesses to discuss this plan.
"Colleagues were worried about the possibility of closing the Russian market, we explained the rules of the game ... Negotiations have not led to the fact that foreigners refused to work in Russia. We will not be left without seeds",
Victoria Abramchenko stressed.
She added that it is the availability of Russian seeds that will ensure the food security of the country, but domestic varieties and hybrids must be competitive.
The Deputy Prime Minister also noted that the threshold values of the Food Security Doctrine of 75% of Russian seeds "should be achieved". Currently, such crops as potatoes, sugar beet, corn and sunflower depend most on imports. According to them, the level of self-sufficiency of 75 percent should be reached by 2030, the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
According to experts, such administrative blocking will not lead to the rapid development of domestic breeding. As Alexey Ivanov, Director of the BRICS Competition Centre, pointed out, the first priority is to ensure the investment attractiveness of breeding work and to create a market.
In a joint study by the BRICS Centre and the Academy of Sciences entitled "Selection 2.0" from 2020, experts proposed a model for transforming the selection and seed sector with a focus on both the problem of means of production and the issue of exports.
Source: RIA Novosti
