Russian Agriculture Fell down to Half the Value – the FBK survey of “How Much is Russia?”

The FBK analysts continue their appraisal of the domestic economy sectors within the framework of the project of “How much is Russia: 10 years later”. This week another sector of the survey was in the focus. Against the similar result of a decade ago the cost of the sector in comparable prices fell by half to an amount of 70.6 bn roubles (as in 2012 prices).

In the overall GDP the portion of agriculture is 3.6% (the agriculture portion of the gross value added (GVA) of the total gross value added produced by the economy of Russia (according to the results of 2012)). For the past decade the portion of GVA in the sector dropped very significantly – 2.4 percentage points down.
The number of those employed in agriculture reduced by a third. By the beginning of 2013it amounted to 5.1 m people as compared to 7.7 m a decade ago.

The portion of the fixed capital stock of agriculture in the asset structure of the economy of Russia decreased sharply from 4.4% as of the beginning of Y2003 to 2.5% as of the beginning of Y 2013. Livestock of cows as of the beginning of Y2013 decreased by almost 20% from 11.1 to 8.9 m heads. And the maize croppage, on the contrary, increased by 5.5 times during that period. Despite the growth in productivity of agricultural crops, Russia still lags far behind the developed countries. The average yield of potatoes, for example, over the past period in Sweden and Canada was about 300 kg/hectare, while in Russia - 130 kg/hectare.

Head of the studies Igor Nikolaev, the FBK Institute of Strategic Analysis Director, notes that today Russian producers have already the level of state support comparable with that in the developed countries. So, if in 1999 - 2001 the state support in the Russian Federation was on average 5.3% of the cost of production, in 2010-2012 this figure amounted to 21.3%. At the same period in Canada this indicator amounted to 21.9%, in USA - 39.2%, in EU - 25.9%. However, as is shown by the results of the research, it did not have a significant impact on the agriculture cost increase.

The full text of the “Agriculture” sector can be found on: skolko.ru