Vertically integrated companies to boost meat production - minister.

NABEREZHNYE CHELNY, March 14 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Agriculture
Minister Yelena Skrynnik said vertically-integrated companies should make
groundwork for fulfilling the task to boost domestic production of meat.
Skrynnik was speaking at a conference in Naberezhnye Chelny over
production of meat in Russia.
"Small farms will be playing an important role, too, but it is the
large agribusinesses with full production cycle that will be the leaders,"
she underlined.
As an example, she named such vertically-integrated companies as
Chelny-Broiler, which plans to produce 70,400 tons of poultry meat this
year, and Kamsky Bacon, where production is expected to reach 50,000 tons
of pork by the year 2013.
The minister praised the contribution made by Tatarstan's
agribusinesses to the fulfillment of the task to boost meat production in
the country.
"Thanks to the systemic, effective and varied measures, Tatarstan's
poultry meat production grew by 19 percent last year, which is much higher
than the national average. The republic posted a 5.5 increase in
production of all kinds of meat," Skrynnik said.
Speaking about the support for the regions that implement cattle
breeding programs, she said assistance would be provided to the efficient
users of funds.
-0-myz