New strategy for the Russian rural areas development from The Ministry of Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture released an updated strategy for the Russian rural areas development until 2030. It is aimed at reducing the outflow of the population, developing infrastructure, increasing unemployment rates and income in the villages, Kommersant says.

Similar ideas aimed at helping villages were voiced out by the President Vladimir Putin during a press conference in December 2021. The new strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture will be in line with national projects and other strategic documents of the government. The implementation tool will be the government program of rural areas development for 2020-2025 with the budget of 1.2 trillion rubles.

The ministry noted the positive dynamics after a similar program was implemented in 2015-2020. During that period, it became possible to significantly reduce the migration outflow from villages - from 176.8 thousand people in 2013 to three thousand people in 2020, against the planned value of 95.4 thousand. The numbers were partly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. However, according to officials, it has not yet been possible to keep and increase the share of rural population. Russians go on leaving the villages where the number of inhabitants decreased from 37.1 million people in early 2014 to 36.2 million people in 2020.

Such figures are higher than planned and stay within the goal of keeping 35 million people of the rural population by 2030, but still such numbers are of concern to the Ministry of Agriculture. The aging of the population and the decline in the birth rate against the backdrop of poorly developed infrastructure contribute to the reduction in the population - on average, villagers die 1.5 years earlier than people living in the urban areas. Among the measures proposed as a solution to demographic problems, the ministry offered support for families with children, the development of preschool and educational institutions, as well as an increase in the access to and quality of medical care.

Moreover, the Ministry of Agriculture recognized the critical gap between the cities and the rural areas in terms of the provision of social and commercial facilities. The ministry considered it necessary to develop the economy and infrastructure of rural areas, including repairing local roads. The situation with the rural residents incomes also remains difficult - a quarter of them get salaries less than the subsistence minimum. The new strategy aims to reduce rural population poverty to 6.5 percent by 2030.

According to officials, this should be boosted by the reduction of low-paid jobs, the diversification of employment sources and the increase in the efficiency of the social contract mechanism - incomes should grow not only by the increased social benefits, but primarily by growing salaries and employment rate.

On 23 of December, 2021, during his annual press conference, President Vladimir Putin spoke about infrastructure projects in villages as part of the rural social development program. He mentioned the renovation of schools and provision of the population not only with basic goods, but also with the Internet. According to the President, such changes will have a positive influence on the social well-being of people.
Source: lenta.ru