July 19, 2007

Russia's livestock and poultry production growth exceeds expectations

Russian production of livestock and poultry for the first six months of the year rose by 14.6 per cent compared to 2005 figures to 3.492 million tonnes, double the targeted growth of seven percent.

The development plan for the meat industry was to increase production by seven percent.

However, the numbers of cattle has remained static at 22.8 million head, according to figures released by the Russian agriculture ministry's statistical department Rosstat.

Agriculture minister Aleksey Gordeyev said the prospects for the future are optimistic, adding that the accelerated breeding programme for livestock will continue to receive support through the Gosprogramme, which would develop agriculture and regulate the market.

He said that at present the programmes for rural small scale cattle, sheep, reindeer, and horse breeding already receive support of 3.2 billion rubles (US$126 million).

Both the private sector and the government is contributing to the reconstruction of 1,800 cattle breeding farms across the country, estimated to cost the nation 131.1 billion rubles (US$5.2 billion).