Penza, 23 October 2015. PenzaNews. The farmers of the Penza region received some 345 million rubles since 2012 to support cattle breeding and beginner enterprises, announced Andrei Burlakov, acting deputy chairman of the regional government, during his October 23 press conference held in the PenzaNews agency press center on Friday.

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“The program opened in 2012. Since then, we have provided grants to 125 beginner farmers and 31 family-owned cattle farms,” he clarified.

According to Andrei Burlakov, the grants for the best applicants may reach u to 1.5 million rubles for farmers and up to 10 million rubles for family-owned cattle ranches.

“Most applicants chose milk cattle breeding: 47 of the 125 beginner farmers chose this field. 20 of them were in meet cattle breeding. About 30 projects are on potatoes, vegetables. There were also unusual projects related to fish, rabbit breeding, apiary, sheep breeding,” the state servant explained.

The state support allowed 156 individual farm enterprises to set up business and create some 450 jobs, Andrei Burlakov pointed out.

“If we take the outline of the most recent Lenina square agricultural fair, we’ll see that only a few of the large-scale producers with big projects were there. Most of them, about 180, are small-scalers, family-owned enterprises, a great many of them having taken part in this program,” he said.

The regional program helps boost the popularity of small-scale farming field, Andrei Burlakov stressed.

“It is important for us, as it takes its own production niche that generates natural produce without any additives that remains in good demand,” he noted.

According to Andrei Burlakov, the cattle numbers in the Penza region grew by nearly 80% during the program.

“The volume of produced goods also increased. This year, we will be reaching very good milk production volumes among individual farms, nearly 30,000 kilograms. If we take a portion from the overall production volume, this is around 17%,” he clarified, adding that this parameter kept below 5% five years ago.

“We see that production of vegetables by small-scale farms increased tenfold during the program. Most of the vegetables produced come from such farms. They play a key role in this field,” he said.

Potato production saw a growth of over 50%, Andrei Burlakov pointed out.

“Farmers, apart from production value, also have great social importance. They supply consumers with affordable and good-quality goods,” stressed the acting deputy chairman of the Penza region government.

He also suggested that the state support program for beginner farmers helps those who want to farm open their own business and find their place in the countryside.