This was announced by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Marina Afonina at a speech at the Federation Council. Her words are quoted by Interfax. The Deputy minister believes that farmers are switching to local seed varieties, and the country is moving towards import substitution.
According to the Rosselkhoznadzor, the import of seeds to Russia amounted to 29.8 thousand tons in 2024, which corresponds to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, and is about half as much as in the same period of the previous year (73.2 thousand tons).
Photo: ru.freepik.com
Import of potato seeds decreased by 93.1% (770 tons); import of barley seeds decreased by 84.5% (196 tons); corn seed supplies decreased by 80.4% (3.4 thousand tons); onion seeds imported less by 76.2% (1.4 thousand tons); soybean seed imports decreased by 74.3% (174 tons); import of wheat seeds decreased by 68.8% (341 tons). At the same time, the supply of seedlings increased by 6.9%, reaching 753.2 million units.
Russia has consistently imposed restrictions on seed imports, especially from unfriendly countries, in order to encourage local breeders for the second year in a row. In 2025, the import quota will amount to 18.3 thousand tons.
