The Russian region of Belgorod is expected to produce one million tonnes of apples per year; a third of the Russian demand for this fruit. The head of Belgorod Oblast's Department of Agriculture, Stanislav Aleynik, pointed out that last year, according to the Federal Customs Service, Russia imported $ 6.2 billion worth of fruits and berries, 40% of which could have been grown in Russia.
"After joining the WTO in 2012, customs tariffs have significantly fallen, so the volume of apple imports increased," said Stanislav Aleynik. "Thus, Russian buyers are investing more than 500 million Euro in the development of foreign economies."
According to officials, this is due to lack of domestic product in the market, but the situation can change. In the Belgorod region, the gross apple harvest last year reached 47,000 tonnes. More than half of the large companies have expanded and the average yield has improved with the growth of intensive orchards, where it is possible to grow 40 tonnes of apples per hectare.
Stanislav Aleynik noted that, in the future, depending on the number of trees planted per hectare, there will be three planting schemes, each needing a different investment and generating different levels of revenue. With the maximum density (2.5 thousand apple trees per hectare), the cost would be of 2.9 million Roubles, but within three years, when the trees begin to provide a stable yield, the net profit would be of 785 thousand Roubles per hectare.
However, the head of the Russian Association of Growers and CEO of a large Belgorod company, Victor Gorodov, noted that the main issue would be where to get so much quality planting material. According to Stanislav Aleynik, to achieve Belgorod's goals the region would need an additional 27 million seedlings, and a lot of money.
However, Victor also believes that agriculture in Russia is easier than ever, as the technology has already been implemented. Besides, if we talk about the Belgorod region, the unique soils allow local fruit producers to compete with Western growers.
