CC BY
2УДК 634.11
Lugueva M.A.
2nd year undergraduate student Faculty of Economics
Dagestan State University Makhachkala, Russia APPLE ORCHARD RESTORATION PROJECT «ALTERA VITA»
Annotation: this article discusses problems Dagestan garden growers. Also discusses how to improve the situation in the Russian economy.
Keywords: economics, apple orchard, problem, education, business, investments
In my childhood I often visited my grandmother in the village. Most of my time I spent in the apple orchard, that was ten steps away from the river. The smell of apples and the beautiful view are since live in my memory. The garden is about 17 acres. Previously, this apple orchard belonged to the collective farm named after Zhdanov. The apple trees were exported both for sale and production. All the villagers worked there: harvesting, pruning trees and keeping the collective farm apple trees from damage. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a decline in the development of agricultural sector as well as of any other sectors of the economy. Nobody took care of the village garden and the valuable trees were deteriorating. I can't watch the story of our village garden die. Moreover, there are a lot of similar stories in Dagestanian villages. Hence, we cannot but talk about the ways of improving the situation.
There are several problems Dagestan garden growers face.
One of the most important factors determining a significant decrease in the competitiveness of agricultural products is high proportion of the import component in both current expenditures and investments in planting. Today, farmers have to buy from foreign suppliers practically all garden care equipment - sprayers, mowers, choppers, lifts, self-propelled carts and so on. In addition, various tools, all materials and devices for drip irrigation, equipment for refrigerators and commercial processing of apples, as well as 75 percent of the necessary plant protection products are imported. In European countries, this problem is usually solved by means of government and business cooperation. But in this country all the above mentioned is poorely developed.
Dagestan was the center of apple production in the former USSR.
With respect to the amount of
precipitation, Mahachkala surpasses most Russian apple producing regions. More than that it provides our growers with the possibility not to rely on irrigation to produce a crop.
The short, cool and moist growing season of Dagestan provides a competitive
advantage to growers with respect to input costs and the quality of apples. One of the greatest climatic advantages that Dagestan has over other apple producing regions is the ability to produce highly colored apples due to the cool
evening temperatures in late summer and the fall combined with good light diffusion.
It is worth mentioning that over the past 20 years in Russia there has been a decline in the share of the agro-industrial sector in the country's economy. The production of major food products has decreased.
Here is some data from the Federal State Statistics official site. It demonstrates "Total area of fruit plantations in Dagestan".
In this table we see the consistent fall in the production of «Fruit orchard area in Dagestan»
It is worth mentioning that apple growing requires high capital investment and the productivity of the sector depends on the choice of production system.
FRUIT ORCHARD AREA IN DAGESTAN (THOUSAND HECTARES)
2014 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll^
2015 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll^
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
In Russia, due attention has always been paid to fruit-growing industry, but the possibility of bringing grown fruit to other markets has never been considered. Thus, in this respect, Russia is actually lacking the experience of market competition, and the produce often does not meet high quality requirements.
Dagestanian long time orchards have much in value. These last remnants are worth saving; they are of high biodiversity, cultural, heritage and genetic value.
But what should be done to preserve that value? We offer the following:
• Carring out national charity dedicated to creation, restoration community orchards.
• To introduce tree-nursing courses at schools.
I would like to tell you how the same problem is solved in Great Britain. They created «THE OCHARD PROJECT» that is aimed at bringing community orchards to cities and towns across the country. Do you want to know how they manage to do it?
They are refruiting the country, working in partnership with communities to plant, manage, restore and harvest from their own orchards. They rebuild orcharding skills, celebrate orchard heritage and contribute to a better, locally-led food system.
We can do the best in learning from their experience and creating our own community.
The present is the best time to change the situation for the better. For known reasons (I mean sanctions), the country's fruit market is open to farmers — the existing capacity for the production of apples satisfies only 24 percent of the domestic demand for the product. Moreover, the agricultural policy pursued in Russia makes it possible to start developing in this direction. It requires huge investments alongside with the integration of the effort of the Federal and regional authorities, science, education and business. This is the only way to achieve the goals.
Literature:
1. Kovalev E. Global food problem. World Economy and International Relations, 2004, №10. Pp. 26 - 34.
2. Biryukov V.V. Integration processes in the industry sphere / EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC STUDIES, 2014, No. 1, P. 1559-1563
3. https://www.theorchardproject.org.uk
