Rice is a very popular product in Russia, but few people know that domestic farms grow more than 30 varieties of this cereal, fully meeting the demand in the domestic market and selling the surplus abroad.
Leadership in rice production belongs to the Krasnodar Territory, where most of the area for growing crops is located. Lenta.ru went to the country's largest rice producer to find out how Asian culture is growing in Russian conditions.
“I remember when I was a child there was one sort of rice - round grain, everyone ate it and cooked it all,” says Alexei Popov, head of the agro-division of the AFG National agro-industrial holding. Indeed, at the beginning of the rice-growing history of Russia, round-grain varieties of this cereal turned out to be the most suitable for local conditions - and they were grown. Even now, this particular rice is the most popular in Russia, accounting for about a third of the market. With the advent of fashion in Asian cuisine, varieties with long grains also spread.
Almost like in Italy
Where there are now extensive rice paddies in the Kuban, 80 years ago there were only floodplains - large flooded areas of land overgrown with reeds. They tried to win back the rich fertile land from the water for a long time, and finally, in 1929-1930, the first rice plot of 57 hectares was built in the region. The first harvest was relatively small - 21.3 centners per hectare, but this was only the beginning. A few years later, a methodology for creating rice systems was developed, which became widespread not only in the Kuban, but also in other regions and even abroad. Ten years later, the construction of two reservoirs with a volume of 340 million cubic meters began in the Kuban, with the expectation of the future - to provide 70 thousand hectares of rice systems.
By 1945, rice was cultivated on an area of approximately 8,300 hectares. By the 80s, the Kuban rice-growing system was basically established, and until the early 90s, rice cultivation was one of the most profitable industries in the Kuban. The cultivated areas were gigantic - more than 200 thousand hectares. The share of Kuban rice in the production volume was 60-67 percent of the 1.2-1.4 million tons harvested in the country.
The situation in the industry deteriorated sharply in the 90s: the area decreased to 90 hectares (by 1998), and the yield practically returned to the first historical indicators - about 25 centners per hectare.
In recent years, the sown area for growing this crop in Russia has been restored - according to Rosstat, in 2014 they amounted to 196.7 thousand hectares. However, since the collapse of the USSR, not a single hectare of rice irrigation system has been built in the Krasnodar Territory. This is a costly business, the producers admit, because the specificity of growing this crop in Russia is significantly different from, say, Asian or European.
In the Kuban, rice is sown in checks with an area of about 4-6 hectares, then water is supplied with the help of distribution hydroelectric systems, which is distributed along the canals between the plots. Rice is a plant that can carry oxygen from the leaves to the roots, so it feels good in a flooded state. At the same time, some time before harvesting, the plots are drained, which is not done, for example, in some Asian countries.
This year, 106 million cubic meters of water was spent on rice cultivation, AFG National said, the total production costs amounted to about 70 thousand rubles per hectare. At the same time, as they said in the agricultural holding, they do not practice growing rice on the same plots for decades in a row, as, for example, in Asia or in Italy.Every two to three years, to restore soil fertility and saturate crop rotation, wheat and soybeans are sown on the plots, which ultimately makes it possible to increase the yield of rice. The company proudly notes that they have already caught up with the Italians in terms of yield.
“The Italians are very surprised by our achievements - how quickly we succeed and how well our employees work in breeding,” says Aleksey Popov. The company compares its production with Italy because the culture in the two countries is grown in almost the same climatic conditions (in Italy - mostly in the north of the country), at approximately the same latitude and at the same time. “We have comparable yields with the Italians, and for some varieties it is even higher,” says Vadim Patrushev, executive director of the Poltavskaya grain company (part of AFG National). - Due to what? In Italy, rice is a monoculture, they have been sowing rice over rice for 50 years in a row. Our soil fertility is higher due to crop rotation ”. At the same time, the holding admits, there is still room to strive, because the history and traditions of rice growing of the two countries, of course, are hardly comparable: in Italy, this cereal began to be cultivated in the 15th century.
In total, the agricultural holding's rice farms (there are 5 of them) harvest about 200 thousand tons of rice annually, or 20 percent of all produced in Russia. The main part of the production goes to the domestic market, another 50 thousand tons - for export (both in the form of raw materials and in the form of cereals), to neighboring countries, European countries and the Middle East.
Import with additives
As for the taste characteristics of domestic rice, the agricultural holding is confident in the best quality of its product. The answer from the manufacturer is, of course, quite expected. Roskachestvo has their own opinion on this matter, where they recently evaluated the products of the most famous rice producers in Russia. Roskachestvo notes that due to the popularity of this product among the domestic consumer, the market is flooded with counterfeit Asian rice, which is passed off as Russian and, in particular, Kuban.
AFG National assured the Lenta.ru correspondent that although rice from Asian countries is packaged at factories, it is not passed off as one of its own. The reason is the low quality of the imported product. In Asian countries, the holding said, it is customary to grow rice in the same plots for a long time. In addition, the grain is harvested several times a year. In order not to drop yields on depleted soils, producers use a large amount of fertilizer. In addition, due to the warm and humid climate in which pests reproduce well, most of the product is affected by them, therefore, rice imported from Myanmar, Vietnam and other countries, according to representatives of the holding, “additionally cleaned and carefully control the quality of the product , pest infested lots are always returned to the supplier. In Russia, due to the harsher climate, pests reproduce less readily, therefore, the harvested product remains clean on time.
The quality of Russian rice is superior to that of Asia, but the story is reversed with the equipment for processing it, said Vadim Patrushev. Domestic equipment, according to him, in principle, exists, and the enterprise even tried to use it. However, it could not withstand the load, and it was necessary to purchase equipment from rice-producing countries - Japan, China, South Korea. But for processing wheat, Patrushev believes, Russian equipment is quite suitable.
Catch up and feed
Back in May this year, Petr Chekmarev, Director of the Department of Crop Production, Chemicalization and Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that in the future, Russia could double the supply of rice to foreign markets, including start exporting to Africa, and recalled that at present the country is fully self-sufficient. rice and even has some excess.
The problem of the lack of areas for growing this cereal, according to him, will not be so acute if the issue of water supply is resolved: Crimea, Astrakhan, and Kalmykia can become promising regions in this regard.
In the meantime, despite the fact that the domestic market of Russia is provided with the product, it is necessary to import some types of long-grain rice and elite seeds. At the same time, according to AFG National, the substitution of the import market is quite realistic, although this is not a matter of one year. It takes seven years to create a new rice variety - from idea to cereal! The holding has been operating its own breeding center for four years now, whose specialists are working on creating their own varieties for mass consumption, as well as their own seed elite, which will give better results than the existing ones. But increasing yields isn't just about new seeds. This is the modernization of technologies, the renewal of equipment, an increase in general training, the development of our own crop production, and the motivation of employees. Only all this together, according to the holding, can give a good result.
We present to your attention a video tutorial on the topic "Geography of agriculture, grain farming in Russia." In the course of this lesson, you will be able to find out what features affect the distribution of agriculture across the territory of Russia, what are the main characteristics of grain farming in our country.
Topic: General characteristics of the Russian economy
Lesson: Geography of Agriculture, Grain Farming in Russia
1. Geography of agriculture
With the world's largest fund of land, including agricultural land, Russia, it would seem, has endless opportunities for the successful development of agriculture. However, unfavorable geographic location, climatic conditions and other features of the natural environment significantly limit these opportunities. Russia is the northernmost and coldest country in the world. Most (3/4) of its territory is located in the zone of cold and temperate climatic zones. Therefore, solar heat is supplied to it in a very limited amount; permafrost occupies huge areas. On a part of the Russian territory (about 35% of the country's area), located in the temperate zone, there is enough heat for the ripening of crops such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, flax, sugar beets, sunflowers, etc. However, on a huge area , located beyond the Arctic Circle (islands and the mainland coast of the Arctic Ocean), only indoor vegetable growing or focal farming is possible.
Rice. 1. Climatic zones of Russia
Due to the differences in evaporation rates, the northern and northwestern regions are classified as waterlogged areas, while the southern (eastern regions of the North Caucasus, the south of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia) are classified as arid areas. where the return of cold weather, drought or waterlogging is frequent and, as a result, lean years); the cultivation of most perennial crops in the country is impossible; most of its pastures are in low-productivity tundra lands; regions with favorable conditions for agriculture (North Caucasus, Central Black Earth Region, Middle Volga Region) occupy a small area (slightly more than 5% of the country's territory). In terms of supply of heat and moisture, Russia is significantly inferior to many countries, including the United States, whose agro-climatic potential is more than 2.5 times, France - 2.25, Germany - 1.7, Great Britain - 1.5 times higher, than the RF.
If we consider the territory of Russia from north to south, i.e. by natural zones, the geography of agriculture is as follows.
Rice. 2. Natural zones of Russia
Zones of arctic deserts, tundra and forest-tundra either unsuitable at all or extremely unfavorable for agricultural activities. Farming in most of the territory in open ground is impossible. The predominant type of farming is extensive reindeer pastoralism and fur farming. Agricultural development forest zone, due to climatic (cool short summer, the prevalence of atmospheric precipitation over the amount of their evaporation), soil (marginal podzolic, gray forest and bog soils) and other conditions, it is associated with overcoming significant difficulties: land reclamation (drainage) of lands, liming of soils, introduction additional fertilizers, clearing the territory (cleaning boulders, deforestation, uprooting stumps, etc.), etc. The plowing capacity of the forest zone is small, significant areas have hayfields and natural pastures. The main directions of development of the economy are dairy and beef cattle breeding and flax growing, the production of early-maturing cereals (rye, barley, oats) and fodder crops, potatoes. This is typical for the European part of Russia (North-West, North (Vologda region), Central, Volgo-Vyatka, Ural (Perm region, Udmurtia).Forest-steppe and steppe zone (Central Black Earth, North Caucasian, Volga regions, southern regions of the Urals, Western and Eastern Siberia) surpasses all others in terms of agroclimatic resources. In addition to the high supply of heat, the zone is characterized by the presence of various types of chernozem and chestnut soils, characterized by high fertility. The plowed area is very high. The zone is the main breadbasket of the country, the main producer of agricultural products (almost 80% of the country's agricultural products, including the vast majority of wheat, rice, corn for grain, sugar beets and sunflowers, fruits and vegetables, melons and grapes, etc.). In animal husbandry, cattle breeding of dairy and meat and meat directions, pig breeding, poultry farming and sheep breeding are developed. Subtropical zone (Black Sea coast of Krasnodar Territory) is very small in area, but it concentrates all the production of tobacco and tea in Russia. Mountain areas Caucasus and Southern Siberia (Altai, Kuznetsk Alatau, Western and Eastern Sayan mountains, mountains of Tuva, Baikal and Transbaikalia) stand out for their natural meadows used for pastures. Agriculture specializes in beef cattle breeding, sheep breeding, horse breeding, maral breeding, yak breeding, camel breeding. In the production of agricultural products of the country, crop and livestock production plays approximately the same role.
2. Grain farming in Russia
Plant growing- the main branch of grain farming, whose crops (wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley, millet, buckwheat, etc.) occupy more than half of the country's sown area.
Half of the area allotted for grain crops is occupied by crops wheat... Wheat culture in Russia, as in other countries of the world, is most widespread in the steppe and forest-steppe zones. They grow winter and spring wheat. In areas where winter wheat is not damaged by frost (North Caucasus, Central Black Earth and the right-bank part of the Volga region), it is usually preferred as a more productive crop. To the east of the river. The Volga (left bank of the Volga region, the south of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East) is dominated by crops of spring wheat. This distribution of winter and spring wheat crops is explained by the intensification of winter severity towards the northeast.
Rye, in comparison with wheat, is distinguished by a lower temperature of the beginning of growth, greater early maturity, frost resistance, is able to grow successfully on acidic and nutrient-poor sod-podzolic soils. Therefore, in the regions located in the forest zone (North-West, Central, Volgo-Vyatka regions, the northern part of the Urals and the Volga region), rye is the main and most productive grain crop.In Russia, mainly winter rye varieties are cultivated.
Corn - the most productive of cereals and the best silage crop. Silo is a structure in the form of a tower or a pit, a ditch for storing and fermenting watery feed: tops, stems, leaves, etc. In the southern regions of the European part of the country (North Caucasus, Central Black Earth and Volga regions) climatic conditions allow growing corn for obtaining grain. In more northern regions (Central, Volgo-Vyatka, Ural), maize does not fully ripen, and its plant mass is used for feeding livestock.
Oats and barley - plants with a short growing season, mainly grown in the northern regions of the European part (Northern, North-Western regions), in the Urals and Siberia.
Rice in Russia it is cultivated only with artificial irrigation. Rice crops are concentrated in the North Caucasus (the lower reaches of the Kuban, Don, Terek, Sulak rivers), the Lower Volga region (Volga-Akhtubinskaya floodplain of the Astrakhan region) and in the Far East in the Khanka lowland (Lake Khanka area).
Millet and buckwheatalong with rice, the most important cereal crops also occupy small areas. Millet, characterized by increased resistance to drought, is cultivated mainly in the arid steppe regions of the Volga region and the south of the Urals. Buckwheat, on the contrary, is demanding on moisture and low temperatures, has a short growing season (50-60 days). Buckwheat crops are located mainly in the Central, Central Black Earth, Volgo-Vyatka regions, in the Urals (Udmurtia and Perm region), in the Volga region.
Legumes (peas, lentils, beans, soybeans, etc.). Peas are grown in the forest zone, beans and lentils in the steppe and forest-steppe natural zones. Soybeans, as a more moisture-loving plant, are represented by significant areas in the monsoon climate - in the Far East (on the Zeya-Bureya plain and in the Khanka lowland).
Grain harvest in Russia has decreased in recent years. Despite this, Russia remains one of the largest grain producers in the world.
3. Extensive farming method
Extensive farming method Is an increase in the number of products without quality growth. Most often, due to the expansion of cultivated areas. That is, the system of farming without special investment per unit of land area and is characterized by poor use of technology, poor land cultivation and, accordingly, low yields. Intensive agriculture involves the development and application of new technologies in land cultivation and the development of new, more productive varieties (selection), that is, an increase in the amount of production in the same area.
4. Spring and winter cereal varieties
There are two forms of cereals - spring and winter.
Spring plants are sown in spring, during the summer months they go through a full development cycle and yield a harvest in autumn. Winter plants are sown in autumn, they germinate before winter, and in spring they continue their life cycle and ripen somewhat earlier than spring plants. Wheat, rye, and barley have winter and spring forms. All other cereals are only spring cereals. Winter varieties tend to yield higher yields, but they can be grown in areas with high snow cover and fairly mild winters.
5. Slash and burn agriculture
Slash and burn agriculture - one of the ancient systems of farming in the forest zone, based on burning out the forest and planting cultivated plants in this place. In the forest, trees were cut down or undercut, and the bark was cut to dry. A year later, the forest was burned and sown directly into ash, which is a good fertilizer. For the forest belt of Eastern Europe, the following eco-economic cycle was characteristic: from 1-3 to 5-7 years, crops were sown on the cleared area, then they were used as hayfields or pasture, and after the cessation of economic activity, the forest was restored after 40-60 years. The field after the fire gave a good harvest for the first year without tillage; then it was required to loosen the area with hand tools. In the zone of secondary forests, shrubs and even swamps and sod were burned out. This form of farming requires changing the place of settlement from time to time.
Recommended reading list
- V.P. Dronov, V. Ya. Rum.Geography of Russia: population and economy. Grade 9
- V.P. Dronov, I.I. Barinov, V. Ya. Rom, A.A. Lobzhanidze. Geography of Russia: Population. Household. 8th grade
Recommended links to Internet resources
- Unified collection of digital educational resources (Source). Sectoral composition of agriculture. Main branches of crop production
- Information resources Map (Source). "Humidity Index of Russia"
- Unified collection of digital educational resources (Source). Natural zones of Russia
