Russia has sharply reduced imports of vegetable seeds

This year, the Russian Federation has sharply reduced the import of vegetable seeds, replacing them with domestically bred seeds, said Anton Karmazin, Deputy Head of Rosselkhoznadzor, at a round table in the Federation Council on the development of fruit and vegetable production. "This year, 61% less seed material has been imported compared to last year. For potatoes - 92%, onion sets - 77%, vegetable crops - 55%. The replacement is with domestically bred seeds," he said. As reported, in June 2023, the Russian government approved a list of agricultural seeds for which quantitative restrictions on import from unfriendly countries may be introduced. In particular, it includes potato seeds, the quota for 2024 is 16 thousand tons. The total quota for this year is 33.1 thousand tons. In addition to potato seeds, import quotas are imposed on barley, rapeseed, sunflower and sugar beet seeds. At the same time, imports of vegetable seeds are not quantitatively limited. As Minister of ...