AgroRus fair to close in St Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, August 29 (Itar-Tass) -- The 19th international
agro-industrial fair AgroRus 2010 will close in St. Petersburg's
exhibition complex on Sunday.
The fair has met the expectations, though there were doubts in
connection with the post-crisis situation, Lenexpo sources told Itar-Tass.
It proved to be very popular. About 1,500 farms and organisations from
43 Russian regions and ten countries participated in the exhibition.
The fair is an agro-industrial forum aimed at promotion of state
programmes to develop agriculture in the country. Particular emphasis is
placed on scientific developments, innovations, farm produce market
regulation and development of farms and agro-industrial centres. According
to specialists, to realise the country's agrarian potentialities, a
peasant's work must be profitable.
Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister Alexander Petrikov, who
participated in the AgroRus work, believes active introduction of
innovation technologies and production modernisation are needed to boost
Russia's agriculture to a proper level.
Another problem is the domestic agricultural sector's growing
dependence on foreign supplies of equipment and seeds, he noted.
However, there is some progress. The total area of resource-saving
technology cultivated lands doubled in the country in the past four years.
Seventy thousand tractors, 35,000 harvesting machines and 45,000 trucks
were supplied to farms, and 2,000 livestock breeding complexes were opened.
The similar Moscow agrarian forum Golden Autumn 2010 will continue to
sum up this year's agriculture results.