Lack of funding for the land integration program is the reason for the shortage of personnel in rural areas, said the chairman of the State Duma.

The chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, Vladimir Kashin, named this as one of the reasons for the shortage of personnel in rural areas.

The insufficient funding of the state program for integrating agricultural land into circulation from 2022 to 2026 is estimated at 80.5 billion rubles. This information was shared by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, Vladimir Kashin, during a round table organized by the committee on agrarian issues dedicated to the theme "Historical and legislative aspects of reclaiming fallow land: achievements, experience, perspectives."

"Since the start of the second phase of the program for bringing agricultural land into circulation, starting in 2022, we needed to receive an additional 80 billion rubles. If these funds had been allocated, villages and their residents could have taken advantage of other opportunities, and the personnel shortage would not have been as acute," explained Kashin.

According to his data, funding in 2022 amounted to 23.8 billion rubles, instead of the planned 40.5 billion, in 2023 – 34.5 billion rubles (instead of 43.5 billion rubles as indicated in the program documentation), in 2024 – 40.6 billion rubles (instead of 58.6 billion rubles as stated in the documentation). In 2025 and 2026, funding will be 37 billion and 37.5 billion respectively, instead of the planned 59.7 billion and 51.6 billion rubles.

"We set ourselves the task of returning these lands to circulation. We can only do this with the necessary funding provided in our program and when peasants stop being robbed unilaterally. We will continue to speak out and work towards changes," noted Vladimir Kashin.