The agricultural department of Russia has reduced water tariffs for rice production in Kalmykia.

The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia provided assistance to Kalmykia by significantly reducing water tariffs for farms engaged in rice cultivation and haymaking in the steppe republic.

This will allow the region to save up to 40 million rubles this year and fulfill the state task of producing environmentally friendly raw rice, which is a hallmark of Kalmykia. This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture of the region, Timur Gavaev, after a meeting in Moscow with the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Oksana Lut, and the Director of the Reclamation Department, Maxim Borov.

“The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia took into account the problems faced by farmers working in two strategically important zones for our region - the Sarpinskaya and Chernozemelskaya irrigation systems, as well as those engaged in the production of raw rice and hay for livestock farming using reclamation. A decision was made to sharply reduce the tariffs for cubic meters of water. This will allow Kalmykia to save up to 40 million rubles this year,” Gavaev said.

The Minister explained that initially it was planned to increase water tariffs from 0.6 rubles per cubic meter to 1.4 rubles per cubic meter in the machine water lifting zone, which would have led to an increase in the share of costs for irrigated water to 24% of total costs.

“An agreement was reached to reduce the tariff to 1.05 rubles per cubic meter in the machine water lifting zone and to 0.25 rubles per cubic meter in the gravity zone. This is real support for our farmers, who, faced with the rise in tariffs, said they would not engage in rice production and fodder cultivation this year due to the high water costs in our challenging climatic conditions. Today, farmers are already signing contracts for water supply, so the fulfillment of our state task is no longer under threat,” noted the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Kalmykia is the northernmost place in the world where rice is grown. According to the instructions of the head of the republic, Batu Hasikov, special attention is paid to the production of a branded product with distinct taste qualities that is environmentally friendly in the region. This year, rice farms planned to increase the rice cultivation area by 8.8% compared to 2023. In 2023, Kalmykia farmers harvested 10.5 thousand tons of raw rice, exceeding the 2022 crop yield by 16%. The success in growing Kalmyk rice is largely attributed to government support, added Timur Gavaev.