Farmers have stated the risks of a shortage of vegetable seeds

Agricultural producers fear a shortage of vegetable seeds in Russia amid a ban on their import from the Netherlands. Representatives of several large industry associations told Izvestia about this.

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The business spoke about measures to provide Russians with domestic vegetables.

"The decision to ban the temporary import of seeds from the Netherlands is a rather difficult situation for farmers. The sowing season of vegetable crops is underway, and for some of them it will last until August," Stanislav Sankeev, executive director of the People's Farmer Association, explained to Izvestia.

According to him, farmers are provided with Russian hybrids of table beet, the situation with carrots is different.

"We cannot imagine how it is possible to quickly import the entire vegetable group. If such measures are to be resorted to, then this should be done gradually, without prejudice to producers and the Russian food supply," said the executive director of the association.

This opinion is shared by the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Producers.

"Businesses are concerned that decisions on the ban are being taken at once, in too short a time. Having a transition period before the final ban would make it much easier for businesses to operate in such conditions," the press service of the association explained.

At the same time, experts note that it is not yet possible to fully replace seeds with imports, but for some vegetables there are already those that show good results and are not inferior to their foreign counterparts.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

What they won't sow: farmers have announced the risks of a shortage of vegetable seeds