Over 120,000 hectares returned to agricultural use in the Kaluga Region over six years

On January 9, at a videoconference with the heads of state authorities of the region and territorial federal authorities, which was chaired by Governor Vladislav Shapsha and Chief Federal Inspector for the Kaluga Region Igor Knyazev, Regional Minister of Agriculture Leonid Gromov reported on the problematic issues of involving unused agricultural land in circulation.
The head of the regional Ministry of Agriculture of the region noted that the land fund of the region is about 2.9 million hectares. The area of agricultural land in the region is 1093.7 thousand hectares, including 822.5 thousand hectares of arable land. Over the past 6 years, more than 120 thousand hectares have been returned to agricultural circulation. In 2022, 67.3% of arable land (553.8 thousand ha) was used. This figure 10 years ago was less than 40%.
Leonid Gromov named several reasons that hinder this work. First, these are restrictions on the use of land within the boundaries of specially protected areas of federal significance. For example, the total area of the Ugra National Park is 98,623 ha, of which 53,375 ha belong to other categories of land. Basically, these are agricultural plots included in the boundaries of the national park without withdrawal from the right holders. The second major obstacle is unclaimed land shares. Since 2008, on the territory of the region, the courts have recognized the right of municipal property to a total area of more than 110 thousand hectares of such land. At the same time, the minister noted that in recent years, the activity of local governments in resolving the issue of recognizing the ownership of such plots has significantly decreased. The head of the department also stressed the importance of working with unscrupulous tenants.
Among the effective mechanisms that make it possible to intensify the resumption of agriculture in abandoned fields, Leonid Gromov called the use of an increased land tax rate (1.5% instead of 0.3% of the cadastral value). In 2021, additional taxes were assessed for 18.2 million rubles, in 2022 – 15.4 million rubles. These funds have become additional income for local budgets. In addition, in cases of violations of the intended use of land plots, the procedure for terminating lease agreements is initiated. The minister expressed confidence that these measures and the improvement of federal legislation in the field of land relations will allow Kaluga farmers to intensify work on the prudent use of arable land.
Vladislav Shapsha drew attention to the fact that the regional budget also provides for subsidizing half of the costs of agricultural producers for cultural and technical work. Last year, 13 organizations used this opportunity, and this year 25 have already declared their readiness to take part in this program.