Penza, 8 May 2014. PenzaNews. A Turkish agroindustrial company “Arbel” plans to invest $15 mln in agricultural development of Penza Region, said Mahmut Arslan, chairman of the company’s board of directors, during his meeting with governor Vasiliy Bochkarev on Thursday, May 8.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

According to Mahmut Arslan, the main projects of the company will be focused on growing grain, legumen and technical crops.

“’Arbel’ is one of the largest argocultural companies in Turkey that has branches in Canada, the USA, Australia, China, South Africa and other countries. We have been working in Penza since 2013 since the creation of our subsidiary enterprise, ‘Agro Eco,’ LLC, and we are satisfied with the conditions created in for investors in the region,” he said.

The businessman added that the company plans to expand its crop fields and, in the future, build grain drying facilities and grain elevators for the development of its projects.

In his turn, Rakhim Sapaev, executive director of “Agro Eco,” LLC, who was also present during the meeting, pointed out that “Arbel” has invested more than $4.7 mln since the foundation of the subsidiary enterprise.

“We are in the very beginning right now, and $15 mln is an investment for the first stage of the execution of our projects. In the future, we would like to put special emphasis on the production of legumen cultures such as lentil and chick-pea and make the frontline Russian company in terms of crop yield,” Rakhim Sapaev emphasized.

According to him, currently around 8 thousand ha of soil is involved in crop rotation in Penza, Mokshan and Lopatino regions, which will allow to produce around 16 thousand tons of crops.

Executive director of “Agro Eco,” LLC, added that the amount of land involved in crop rotation will expand more than two times up to 20 thousand ha by 2015.

“We plan that the company will get into top gear by autumn 2015, which will allow us to get around 70 thousand tons of crops prepared for production,” he added.

Commenting the intentions of the Turkish company, Vasiliy Bochkarev pointed out that the region is interested in the development of bilateral mutually beneficial relationship.

“We are interested in your project. We have areas in Penza region which may be considered to become potential baselands for the execution of investment projects. We are ready to discuss these issues and, of course, to consider your suggestions on the development of cooperative enterprises,” press center of Penza administration quotes the governor.