On 30 June, Deputy Minister of agriculture of Russia Yevgeny Nepoklonov took part in the annual meeting of the National Union of pig producers.

"We have achieved food self-sufficiency for meat is mainly due to the development of pig and poultry. The success of the pig industry significantly affect the structure of export of domestic agricultural products", — said the Deputy Minister.

The Deputy head of the Ministry of agriculture added that in recent years, the industry has become competitive and attractive to investors. Since 2008, thanks to the active technical modernization commissioned and rehabilitated more than 500 pig-breeding complexes and farms.

Russia is among five countries-the largest producers of pork (3,37 million tons in slaughter weight) together with China (53.5 million tons) countries EU (23.2 million tons), USA (11.3 million tons) and Brazil (3.6 million tons).

"We expect pork production in Russia in 2017 will reach 4.57 million tons, which is 5% higher than last year. While maintaining growth in agricultural production and investment activity in 2018 this figure could grow to 4.73 million tons in live weight", — said Yevgeny Nepoklonov.

He reminded that the main threat to the reduction of livestock and production of products remains the spread of the virus of African swine fever (ASF).

Photo: lagranepoca.com