Agricultural Investment Projects in Ural Federal District
06.06.2014
Attracting investment is one of the priority tasks of current activity of regional governments. In 2013 the volume of capital investment in Russia amounted to 13.3 trillion rubles, having exceeded the last year’s figure by 5.6%. Four industries accounted for two thirds of the total volume: transport and communications; operations with real estate, leasing and rendering services; production of fossil fuels; gas and water production and distribution.
The share of agriculture was 3.7% of the total investment volume. The fact that a large territory of the country is located in the area of risk farming reduces attractiveness of this industry for investment. Governmental subsidy programs promoted renewal of existing capacities and creation of new ones; besides, they promoted development of new practices, such as, for example, agricultural insurance and performance improvement by implementation of high-yield breeds and varieties.
We shall state that the practice of state support for agriculture is widely spread in developed countries. There it enables achieving high productivity with relatively small area and a small quantity of involved labour resources.
In the present article we will consider agricultural investment projects in the Ural Federal District, the share of which in 2013 made up 21% of the total Russian capital investment volume by large organizations, which made it possible for it to take the second place after the Central Federal District.
In the Ural Federal District the share of investment in agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing and fish-farming in 2013 was 1%, while the figure for the whole country was 2.7%. The investment volume corresponded to contribution of these industries to the gross regional product (1.2% in 2012).
Schedule 1. The share of investment in agriculture in the total volume of large organizations in Russia and the Ural Federal District in 2013, %
Source: Federal Service of State Statistics, KPI
Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing and fish-farming are most highly developed in Kurgan and Chelyabinsk regions (10.7% and 6.2% of GRP in 2012, respectively). The share in other regions was 1–2%.
The basic part of investment projects in the district is also implemented in Kurgan region. This is organization of poultry and swine production, elevator construction, mill reconstruction. The total investment volume amounts to 5.5 billion rubles. When the projects get into top gear, meat production in the region will grow by 73.4 thousand tons, while flour production — by 110 thousand tons. Besides, there will be 142 new jobs.
In Sverdlovsk region the volume of investment in projects amounts to 2.3 billion rubles, the main part of which is intended for construction of a greenhouse complex. Besides, a new swine slaughter shop is being constructed. These two projects will create 340 new jobs.
In Chelyabinsk region the volume of investment in projects amounts to 1.2 billion rubles. Projects on fish-farming and dairy farming are being implemented.
Table 1. Implemented projects in agriculture, hunting, forestry, fish-farming in UFD (PDF)
Besides, a number of offers for investors have been posted on investment portals. In Kurgan region there are three projects with the total investment volume of 9.2 billion rubles. In Tyumen region there are five projects for the sum of 468 million rubles.