Over the past eight years, farmers in the Pskov region have achieved incredible results in rapeseed production: its volume has increased 20 times and exceeded 36,000 tons. This important success has allowed the region to expand rapeseed exports beyond its territory and significantly reduce the areas of fallow agricultural lands.
Cultivation of rapeseed and production of products from it are key strategic tasks for the Pskov region, as it helps address the issue of unused lands. According to Nikolai Romanov, Chairman of the Committee for Agriculture and State Technical Supervision of the Pskov region, it will take the region about 20 years to utilize all the fallow agricultural lands, currently totaling around 200,000 hectares. However, the development of rapeseed production attracts investors who start using abandoned fields that have been unused for decades.
"Rapeseed is a high-profit crop and a promising direction for crop production in the Pskov region. Over 8 years, rapeseed production has increased 20 times: from 1,600 tons to 36,400 tons, which is a remarkable achievement. This sector also draws active attention from investors. For example, this year the region saw the first rapeseed processing plant. LLC "Pskovagroinvest" built a production line with a capacity of 5,000 tons per year on the territory of a flour mill in Pskov," Romanov noted in an interview with the agency.
He also mentioned that the investment in setting up this new production facility for the region totaled 50 million rubles. "Company 'Svoe' from Velikie Luki also built a rapeseed processing line with a capacity of up to 3,000 tons per year using grant funds and their own resources. The investment volume amounted to over 33 million rubles. In the past year, two enterprises in this industry have emerged in the region, helping to reduce the areas of fallow agricultural lands," emphasized Romanov.
Over eight years, the agricultural lands occupied by rapeseed have increased nearly 20 times, reaching 17,300 hectares. "Thanks to this, our agricultural entrepreneurs have started supplying rapeseed products to other regions of Russia. The produced rapeseed cake is used for feeding cattle, while the oil is sold domestically and exported abroad," clarified the chairman of the regional agricultural committee.