Priority right to obtain preferential investkredit in the agricultural sector will be given to participants of the national project "Productivity and support employment." According to Prime Minister Mikhail mishustina, it will allow to increase the efficiency of agribusiness, to increase the rate of production and to ensure food security of the country, according to the government website.

Companies that are participants of the project "Productivity and employment support", successfully working to improve its efficiency, reduce costs and, therefore, have the potential to increase the salaries of its employees. They create new jobs and increase the competitiveness of Russian agricultural products, said Mishustin.

The growth of labor productivity and employment — factors that are difficult to reconcile: either performance is improved, with the result that the staff is shrinking, or the company maintains employment that can inhibit productivity growth, says CEO of the Institute for agricultural market studies (IKAR) Dmitry Rylko. "In agriculture, to combine these conditions is possible, but it is an additional burden on business. It turns out, companies need to find ways to reduce staff while productivity growth", — commented on the "Agroinvestor" Rylko.

According to him, changing the rules provide investkredit can provide the benefits of large holdings, having more possibilities to meet the criteria of the national project. "I hope that this is only one of the criteria for the granting of state support to the small and medium-sized companies access to subsidized investment loans remains," he adds.

The rules for selection of projects to receive preferential funding for programs to support agriculture would include the possibility of access to concessional funds a wide range of companies. Marked refinement of the selection criteria is likely to be a complement to existing regulations that allow primarily to provide benefits to companies from industries that regions is considered a priority, as well as export-oriented, said "Agroinvestor" head of the Center for economic forecasting of Gazprombank Darya Snitko. "Improving production efficiency is an integral part of improving the competitiveness of Russian products on world and domestic markets," she said.

"Support to employment is a good measure, but how many agricultural organizations are the project participants and whether they are there at all?" — asks the Director of the Center for agrofood policy, Ranepa Natalya shagaida. As Dmitry Rylko, she believes that support employment and productivity growth are mutually exclusive factors. Of course, the justification for subsidized loans, the entrepreneurs indicate that there will be a certain number of new jobs. But it does not mention that in aggregate at the enterprise the number of employees will be reduced, says shagaida. The issue of employment not relevant for agricultural enterprises, where for many years the reduction is stable and understandable for the modernization of production and increase productivity. The issue of employment is extremely important for rural areas.

Now, if you look at studies of Rosstat employment, it is clear that rural residents are working in different industries — for manufacturing and energy companies in the service sector, etc., but less in agriculture. And these places of non-agricultural employment in rural areas. "Rural residents of working age are forced to leave the villages and seek employment. We don't even know how many people resides in rural areas, not frequented by place of residence once a year on vacation," adds shagaida.

If you look at the purpose of the project to support employment and increase productivity, it raises many questions, how does this apply to agriculture, she says. Thus, the aim is to ensure that by 2024, growth rates of labor productivity for medium and large enterprises of the basic non-oil sectors of the economy below 5% per year. To the vast number of agricultural enterprises the project does not apply: more than 80% of them small businesses.

In addition, the project provided targeted measures: the formation of a system of methodological and organizational support to enhance productivity and the like. "If it involves the invitation of consultants, as it was on a separate and isolated industrial plants, where these consultants for agriculture?", continues shagaida. It is also expected to retrain staff. To learn, of course, is always useful, but in General it is unclear how globally it could change the employment situation, if you focus on a limited number of enterprises and agricultural activities, she concluded.

Now participate in the national project "Productivity and support employment" are of 1.55 thousand companies, 123 of them work in the field of agriculture and forestry, hunting, fisheries and fish farming. According to the project website, in the top participants included: "Oka" (the largest manufacturer of edible chicken eggs in the Ryazan region), "Prodo poultry farm Permskaya" (specializiruetsya on the production of broiler meat and offal), poultry farm "Pyshminsky", "Bohr" (production of eggs), "Chelny-broiler" hothouse plant "Eletsky vegetables", etc.