ANALYSIS AND PROSPECTS OF BERRY CROP PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Abstract

The study is devoted to the development of berry crop production in Russia. The dietary value of berries is noted due to a high content of biologically active substances. The article reveals the role of berry gardening in managing private farm households and estimates the prevalence of various berry crops in the Russian Federation. The dynamics of the area of fruit and berry plantations and the yield of berry crops from farms of all categories in Russia is analyzed. The structure of the gross berry harvest by type is presented. The differences in the structure of berry production in Russia and worldwide are shown. There is a lack of domestic production of berry gardening products in Russia, primarily due to climatic conditions and production inefficiency, which causes a significant share of berry imports (more than 60%) on the domestic market. The assessment of the berry product import from countries both near and far abroad is given. The obtained data served as the basis for evaluating the efficiency of this production. A set of measures is proposed to promote the development of berry crop production in Russia, which will contribute to further import substitution and ensure the country's food security – use of advanced technologies in the field of industrial berry production in specialized farms, development of domestic production of planting material, minimization of losses during storage and processing by integrating berry production with industrial enterprises, general improvement of the organizational and economic mechanism of  the fruit-canning sub-complex functioning. As a part of implementing these directions to improve the efficiency of berry gardening, the volume of agriculture financing under the updated state program for the development of the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation is shown.