ECONOMICS OF POTATO PRODUCTION IN RUSSIA: BREEDING AND SEED PRODUCTION ASPECT

Issue № 7, 2026, article № 25, pages 291-303

Section:

Language: Russian

Original language title: ЭКОНОМИКА ПРОИЗВОДСТВА КАРТОФЕЛЯ В РОССИИ: СЕЛЕКЦИОННО-СЕМЕНОВОДЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ

Keywords: AGRICULTURAL SECTOR, IMPORT SUBSTITUTION, INTEGRATION PROCESSES, POTATOES, RUSSIA, BREEDING AND SEED PRODUCTION

Abstract: This article explores new solutions and methods for organizing potato breeding and seed production. The article highlights the high importance of this crop for household consumption and as a raw material for industry, which allows it to be classified as a strategic crop. Potato production in agricultural organizations across the country for the period from 2018 to 2025 is examined. The federal project "Creating Conditions for the Development of Scientific Research in Breeding and Genetics" and the subprogram "Development of Potato Breeding and Seed Production" of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for Agricultural Development for 2017-2030 (hereinafter referred to as the FSTP) are aimed at overcoming the current shortages of seed potatoes. According to this subprogram, it was planned to achieve 50% substitution of imported elite seed material by 2025. However, in 2024, these targets were revised downwards. In the new version, this percentage of import substitution is planned only by 2030. Moreover, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture proposes amending the Federal Scientific and Technical Program, reducing the percentage of domestic seeds. According to the document, the level of self-sufficiency in potato seeds was to be 10.5% in 2025, 11% in 2026, 11.5% in 2027, 12% in 2028, 12.5% in 2029, and 35% in 2030. An analysis of the level of funding for the Federal Scientific and Technical Program during the first years of its implementation reveals that instead of the planned 3,107,926.9 thousand rubles, only 1,298,314.7 thousand rubles were allocated from the federal budget in 2018, and in 2019, instead of 3,048,981 thousand rubles, only 1,298,314.7 thousand rubles were allocated. – 1,180,283.5 thousand rubles, in 2020 – 3,057,733 thousand rubles against 1,397,092.9 thousand rubles according to the initial passport. That is, crop production received a more than 2-fold shortfall in financial resources, which naturally affected the implementation of the Potato Subprogram. Only in 2018-2025, work began on the creation of breeding and seed production centers in various regions of Russia as part of the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program. By the 2025 sowing season, 33 potato varieties were registered in the State Register of Breeding Achievements (hereinafter referred to as the State Register) approved for use in Russia, 28 of which were domestic. By the 2026 sowing season, 566 varieties were registered in the State Register, 163 of which were registered in the period 2018-2025. During the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program (as of March 25, 2026), 292 active license agreements were registered in the registry. As of January 1, 2025, Russia's self-sufficiency in domestically bred potato seeds reached 9 percent. Varieties intended for industrial processing play a special role in potato breeding and seed production, and domestically bred varieties are unacceptably few in number. Production integration enables the development of not only processing plants but also the agricultural sector, ensuring stable demand for products. This paper proposes a set of measures to improve the organizational and economic framework for developing breeding and seed production in crop production, which will reduce dependence on foreign producers for seed material.

Authors: Nechaev Vasilii Ivanovich, Pisareva Liudmila Viacheslavovna, TSyplenkova Nataliia Vladimirovna