Modern issues of horticulture as the most important component of food security of Russia

Abstract

This article analyses the content of the most important component of the national agricultural industry — private subsidiary farms. The author relies upon the idea that the development of horticulture is an inexpensive and stable strategy that allows to improve the food security of households by providing them with quality and environmentally friendly personally made food. According to the estimates of the Union of Gardeners of Russia, 125 million Russians belong to families receiving products from the land they cultivate themselves, or to those going to help their relatives in summer. At the same time, according to Rosstat estimates, if the entire volume of agricultural production at actual prices in 2022 preliminarily amounted to 8.851 trillion rubles, households account for 2.071 trillion rubles at actual prices (i.e. a quarter of all products). Today, in the conditions of increasing pressure of sanctions on the agricultural sector of Russia, horticulture is of great importance for achieving the principal parameters of the country’s food security. The article shows that there is a signifi cant decrease in the number of both farms themselves and indicators of production effi ciency for personal consumption and for sale. Being a practitioner — chairman of an allotment society and a leading expert of the Federal Center for Agricultural Consulting, the author highlights the main issues, regulatory and legal restrictions that signifi cantly hinder the development of households, in particular: the inability to use the "dacha amnesty" for most allotment gardens, serious cadastral errors, the growth of abandoned land plots, as well as legislative innovations related to restrictions on keeping of farm animals and birds on garden plots.