NATALIA SHAGAIDA: “REDUCTION BY AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS AND FARMERS OF THE AREA OF UNUTILIZED LAND IS A REASONABLE ECONOMIC STEP”

In her interview with the Agroinvestor, Natalia Shagaida, Head of the Agrarian Policy Department of the Gaidar Institute has commented on the news that the area of unutilized agricultural land has decreased.

According to the data of the 2021 agricultural micro-census, over five years the area of unutilized agricultural land decreased by more than 3 mn ha. According to Natalia Shagaida, the reduction by agricultural organizations and farmers of the area of unutilized land is a reasonable economic step. In Natalia Shagaida’s view, this situation was driven by global market prices for the main Russian export products and export opportunities last year. “The economic factors are the main ones. The government’s administrative efforts to make farmers use unutilized land raise lots of questions starting from the new non-use signs to the very idea of total control and sanctions,” Natalia Shagaida said to the Agroinvestor.