The production of niche crops in the Russian Federation shows high economic efficiency — RHCB

Such crops include flax, buckwheat, durum wheat, peas, and chickpeas. Russian agrarians have been increasingly developing niche crops over the past five years. This is due to the higher economic efficiency and profitability of such crops, as well as greater export prospects. This is reported in the materials of the Industry Expertise Center (IEC) of Rosselkhozbank (RSHB). Niche crops include agricultural crops with a sown area not exceeding 5 million hectares: flax, buckwheat, durum wheat, peas, chickpeas, and lentils. RSHB notes that an important support for the development of niche crops is domestic breeding. For example, the self-sufficiency in seeds of legumes in 2024 was 66% (twice the figure for 2022), flaxseed was 85%, and rye was 100%. "In recent years, the demand for niche crops has been growing due to the high marginality of their production, as well as the diversification of sales markets considering export demand, which allows agrarians to offset financial and ...