Penza, 28 March 2013. PenzaNews. By April 15, 2013 all farmers of the Penza region will receive state funding on per-hectare-of-sown-area basis, the money have already arrived in the region. This was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Agriculture of the Penza region Ivan Firyulin during a meeting with reporters at the press center of news agency PenzaNews on Thursday, March 28.

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“The first stage of revival of the rural economy, which is directly connected with Russia entering the World Trade Organization (WTO), begins. All previously existing forms of financial support for agriculture are canceled. A unified form of subsidy, the so-called “unrelated support” has been introduced,” Ivan Firyulin told the reporters.

He also noted that now the state subsidizes 1ha of cultivated area from the federal and regional budgets.

For the Penza region, the total amount of such support equals 258 million rubles, 41 million of which is allocated from the regional budget.

“The average payment per 1 hectare is 228 rubles. But this amount differs in the districts of the region. It depends on production of grain, sunflower and sugar beet, and the level of land use intensity and soil fertility in a given area,” he said.

“For some rural areas it is much less than in the past. They talk about the double or even tenfold reduction in subsidies. However, the progressive farmers do not ask for extra help. They farm the land in a new progressive way, use the best seeds, work on efficient equipment, and achieve significant productivity,” he commented.

At the end of the questioning session the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Agriculture of the Penza region stressed that the main challenge now is to send the funds allocated to rural manufacturers before spring seedtime.