Russia sharply cuts funding for agricultural sector due to budget deficit - intelligence
Kyiv • UNN
The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation is canceling subsidies and reducing expenditures on modernizing the industry. Funding for technical support will be cut by 28% by 2027.
Against the backdrop of a growing budget deficit, Russia plans to cut state support for the agro-industrial complex. This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, writes UNN.
Details
Against the backdrop of a growing budget deficit, Russia is cutting state support for the agro-industrial complex – one of the few sectors that the authorities have so far positioned as a strategic priority. The Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a draft resolution that rewrites the logic of subsidizing the industry towards strict austerity.
It is noted that the document provides for the reduction or complete abolition of subsidies for agrotechnological works, the curtailment of financing for soil protection measures and environmental safety of production, as well as the cessation of support for projects for deep processing of grain and milk.
A separate condition for receiving subsidies in animal husbandry, horticulture, and dairy production is mandatory agricultural insurance – a requirement that de facto screens out a significant part of small producers unable to bear additional costs.
The fate of the program "development of industries and technical modernization of the agro-industrial complex" is indicative: in 2027, its funding will be reduced by 28% - from 438 to 316 million US dollars. About 25 million US dollars from the released funds are planned to be redirected to selection and seed production - a step that industry associations present as a response to the critical dependence on foreign seeds of sugar beet, sunflower, and corn, which reaches 70-90%
The intelligence service added that even this "compensation" has a distinct redistributive character: according to experts, the main beneficiaries of the redirected funds will be large research centers and agricultural holdings with their own laboratory base. For small and medium-sized farms, this means a further narrowing of access to state support against the backdrop of already growing financial pressure.
In a broader context, the reduction in spending on the agro-industrial complex reflects the systemic fiscal crisis in which Russia finds itself: limited access to external financial resources and an inflated military budget leave less and less room for supporting civilian sectors. The consequences of this choice - a decrease in investment activity in the agricultural sector, a reduction in production volumes, and a deepening gap between large players and the rest of the market