How to stop degradation and stimulate the development of the Russian countryside

More details: http://www.ng.ru/scenario/2011-05-24/14_map.html

Tatyana Grigorievna Nefedova - senior researcher at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"Independent newspaper"
Talk about countryside Russia as a whole is meaningless. In the north and south, in the west and east of the country, in the suburbs and on the periphery of the regions, in Russian and non-Russian settlements, one can see absolutely different worlds with different problems.

Throughout the twentieth century, from generation to generation, the youngest and most active people left the village for the city. The zone of the strongest rural depopulation covers almost the entire Central Russia and part of the Near North. The main problem there remains the departure of young people who cannot be retained.

Demographic factor

The population thawed especially fast on the periphery of the non-chernozem regions. After all, not only in cities, but next to them, the arrangement, the possibility of choosing a job, the conditions for self-realization are much better. And than bigger city, the wider the high-density suburban area rural population around, the more active life there. Therefore, even within the boundaries of the regions, the differences in the density of the rural population between the suburbs and the periphery reach 10 or more times. And in the non-chernozem outback, there are only two or four people per square meter. km, old women predominate, and alcoholism is common among the able-bodied.

The inhabited and economically active rural space of Russia has long since shrunk outside the fertile south into separate areas, and a socio-demographic desert has arisen between them. And it is unlikely that the situation will be reversed in the near future. Globalization and information permeability of space only exacerbate it, exposing the inconsistency of the social environment with the needs of young people.

The system of rural settlement is connected with the dynamics of demographic processes. In the south and in the suburbs of large cities, a significant part of the population lives in large villages of more than 1,000 people. The rest of the territory, especially in the Non-Chernozem region, was initially characterized by small settlements. The population is huddled in comparatively more viable central places. The number of dead small villages is growing, and the former medium settlements are rapidly degrading, turning into small ones with the same prospects. The absence of roads to many settlements, the closure of shops, small schools, clubs intensify the degradation of unviable settlements in the outback and create new incentives for the outflow of the population.

A strong decrease in the area used in agriculture is largely the result of the long-term artificial maintenance of the collective-farm and state-farm economy in non-chernozem remote areas that have lost most of the population, or in areas of mass plowing and degradation of virgin arid lands. With the termination of huge state subsidies, the destruction of public procurement, price disparity and import competition Agriculture, accustomed to complete control by the administrative-party organs and dependency, experienced a severe crisis. But since 1999, gross agricultural output has been growing steadily and is generally approaching the 1990 level. However, the sown area was reduced until 2008, and the number of cattle is still declining. This indicates a strong polarization and concentration of agricultural production.

Mainly southern and suburban enterprises are being restored and reformed. There is a normal territorial division of labor: agriculture adjusts to the distribution of natural and human resources. Even the yield of such mass crops as cereals, or the amount of milk that one cow gives, depends not only on natural conditions, specialization, but also on the distance to a big city, especially the capital of the regions - in the Non-Black Earth region they are always higher in the suburbs.

Not only the rural population and infrastructure, but also investments, innovations and generally successful agricultural activities are concentrated around cities, despite the high cost of suburban land, dacha and cottage development. And it's not just the physical remoteness of peripheral areas. The main thing was the condition of the farms on which processors can rely. And there are usually more strong farms in the suburbs.

As a result of the contraction of agricultural production to the southern fertile regions and to the suburbs of large cities (more than 100 thousand inhabitants), a supporting framework for the development of agriculture in Russia is being formed. It consists of separate areas and foci. Beyond them - zones of agricultural depression, in European Russia especially large to the west and north of the Moscow region. They formed a rural community with persistently low economic results enterprises and the lack of motivation for any activity of the population, with the exclusion of visitors, including farmers.

abandoned land

The crisis of agriculture was accompanied by the abandonment of land. Losses of land over 40 years, according to various estimates, amounted to 30-55 million hectares, including only for the last 20 years - 20-45 million hectares. Huge areas were taken out of agricultural use. However, land use statistics do not have time to capture the real situation. It reflects much more accurately the disposal of the sown area, which has decreased by 35% over the past 20 years. In some areas, less than half of the arable land is sown, the rest is also overgrown with forest.

The vast majority of agricultural land remains with large and medium-sized enterprises. And although after the division of collective farm assets into shares, most of the land in Russia is considered private, land shares usually leased or sold to businesses and used (or not used) by them. The areas that are listed as arable land, but not used in any way, in Russia amount to about 40 million hectares. The crisis of the 1990s clearly revealed that agricultural enterprises, especially in the Non-Black Earth region, held much more land and livestock than they were able to process and feed.

And yet it develops

But do not think that all modern agriculture is in collapse. The situation is quite different in the south, where land is in demand, there is competition for them between large enterprises and farmers, who are also numerous in the southern regions. In some regions, farmers produce a third or more of grain and sunflower and use quite large areas (over 1,000 ha). This new way of life for Russia took root, although not everywhere. In the southern regions, there are many commercial private households of the population, in essence, shadow farms. Personal economy almost everywhere has become an important factor survival of the rural (and partly urban) population and self-supply with basic food. According to statistics, people themselves grow more than 80% of potatoes, about 70% of vegetables and produce up to half of milk and up to 40% of meat.

The active formation of agro-industrial holdings - the integration of food enterprises with agricultural producers, financial and trade structures - contributes to the preservation and development of agriculture. Their creation has become an all-Russian trend since the late 1990s. Imbalance in institutional reforms and a sharp decrease in state support agriculture required the concentration of capital to diversify risks, improve the organization of production and improve management. The impetus for the formation of agricultural holdings was given by the depreciation of the ruble in 1998 and the associated decrease in the role of imports, and, consequently, the need for the food industry to rely on its raw materials. By this time, a class of new managers had matured in Russia on large enterprises food industry, which was sharply discordant with weak management in agricultural enterprises. Moreover, not only food enterprises, but also trading firms and even companies that are far from agriculture (including such large ones as Gazprom, the Stoilensky Mining and Processing Plant, Norilsk Nickel, etc.), have found that that with comparatively small investment agriculture, especially crop production, is a profitable industry with a relatively short investment turnover. Private capital from cities, including Moscow, began to spill over into agriculture. City enterprises either acquired agricultural producers in different regions of Russia, including them in the general production chain "from field to counter", or entered into contracts with them for 5-10 years, investing in the purchase of equipment, updating the livestock in exchange for payment with agricultural products.

In the regions and cities, structures began to emerge that stimulate the entry of urban capital into agriculture. For example, in Moscow, by 2010, large dairy and meat plants, former vegetable bases that became distribution centers and supported by the government of the capital, owned more than 140 agricultural enterprises in different regions of Russia from the Moscow region to the regions of the Volga region and the Krasnodar Territory. They provided about 20% of Moscow's total food needs and about 40% of Russian food raw materials.

The search for reliable agricultural enterprises by agricultural holdings turned out to be a difficult task, especially in the non-chernozem regions surrounding the Moscow region. Initially, businesses preferred to work with more successful suburban and southern areas, relying on strong enterprises and thereby increasing the polarization of the rural space. But its expansion beyond the suburbs turned out to be inevitable due to the high cost of land near the cities and the displacement of agriculture by dacha and housing construction. Therefore, agricultural holdings began to create branches, as a rule, not labor-intensive, in depressed areas, contributing to the secondary agricultural development of abandoned lands.

Dacha and summer residents - it's so important

Another way to preserve and even re-develop remote rural areas that are losing their population is the dachas of townspeople. They are usually associated with the suburbs. But in addition to the near densely developed dacha zone, zones of medium-distance (100-300 km) and distant (300-600 km) dachas can be distinguished. The dacha zones of Moscow and St. Petersburg have already closed in the south of the Pskov and Novgorod regions, capturing the neighboring ones as well. For example, 400 km from Moscow in the Valdai district of the Novgorod region in the summer, the population increases by 3-4 times, and the border between Moscow and St. Petersburg summer residents runs along Lake Valdai.

In the depopulated areas of the Non-Chernozem region in picturesque places, even in such remote areas as the peripheral regions of the Kostroma region, from 30 to 90% of the real, although not year-round, population is urban summer residents, mostly middle-class intellectuals. Can they save the dying villages? Summer residents keep their houses, give jobs to local residents, buy their products, create a new social environment conducive to the detention of the younger generation. But they will not save overgrown agricultural fields. Nevertheless, it is unlawful to consider a modern village, even a remote one, without townspeople-summer residents. Summer residents are not implanted into local life as alien elements, they actively participate in it. In areas favored by summer residents, traditional agriculture is becoming not the main, but an additional industry.

There are no levers that could detain in such remote villages or attract young people for permanent residence in them. At the same time, the dacha sprawl of Moscow and St. Petersburg continues. It is these processes, and not the restoration of plowing in the taiga or other grandiose projects that can save small villages. This should be an important signal for the federal and regional authorities that create concepts and programs for the development of rural areas. This is also a signal for the local authorities, who are not very happy about the influx of obstinate educated Moscow summer residents. They are difficult to manage, but it is possible to cooperate fruitfully with them.

And yet - can something be done to help developing rural areas and stop the degradation of rural areas in depressed places?

Agribusiness is not a panacea

AT last years the government took measures to support agricultural producers within the framework of both the National Project and the program for the development of the agro-industrial complex. Imports were regulated, grain interventions were carried out, almost interest-free loans and subsidies to fight fuel monopolists, etc. The main problem remains the widespread unprofitability of beef production, leading to further degradation of animal husbandry. One of the measures may be not so much the restriction of beef imports, but the improvement of pricing policy and state subsidies to the purchase prices for meat with economic incentives to increase the number of productive livestock.

However, development is always uneven and leads to economic inequality. The process of territorial division of labor in large and medium-sized agribusiness, its adaptation to natural and socio-economic conditions and restrictions lead to the modernization and increase in the efficiency of agriculture, the emergence of successful producers and entire regions. Investments in agricultural production of areas that have preserved labor resources become the basis for strengthening the food security of the state. But at the same time there is a strong polarization of the countryside and the compression of the developed space.

At the same time, developed agriculture does not guarantee the development of rural areas. Agricultural “overdevelopment” in areas with difficult natural conditions, who lost 50-80% of the rural population as a result of urbanization, became apparent. Reasonable social politics under such conditions is necessary, but it also does not lead to equality. It is always the competition of different territories and different social groups for finances. The task is to find your own way, taking into account the corridors of possible development of different territories, and not to “sculpt” identical strategies for everyone.

Universal Strategies

But there are also federal measures that can support rural areas.

Small business. The problems of economic inequality arising in the process of polarization of large and medium-sized enterprises can be solved with the help of special measures to support small businesses in the form of not only affordable loans, but also tangible subsidies for the delivered marketable products (partially this is done at the regional level), as well as economic incentives for the processing of agricultural , forest products in rural areas and development of any kind of activity there. The main task now is to return at least a part of otkhodniks to the village.

Sales of products. Many manufacturers noted that if they knew where to sell their products at affordable prices, they would produce much more. It is necessary to stimulate economically and administratively in the regions the expansion of the network of municipal and regional wholesale and retail markets, points of consumer cooperation, accessible to all manufacturers. A system of information alerts about prices in different markets is also needed.

Replenishment of budgets. It is necessary to change interbudgetary policy (including under Federal Law No. 131) not so much in the direction of redistributing transfers, but in terms of increasing its own tax base municipalities and rural settlements. Redistribution from the Center does not lead to development, but to dependency or settles in bureaucratic pockets. In order for local authorities to have an incentive to develop something, it is necessary to leave more funds on the ground with a partial redistribution of taxes according to the place of residence, and not work.

Earth. To find own funds, it would be necessary to establish state subsidies for prices for cadastral services, facilitate land surveying and achieve registration of all private plots of land so that taxes on them and rent replenished local budgets as well as taxes on residential buildings. Now unregistered shares are transferred to municipal property.

Attracting the population. In areas of depopulation, where investors-producers do not go, in order to maintain development, it is necessary to create conditions for attracting both migrants for permanent residence and summer residents, including by providing land for rent for at least 10 years or for ownership. When making land plots persons not registered in the area, including summer residents, the tax and rent should be increased.

Infrastructure. It is necessary to achieve at least a minimum level of infrastructural and social infrastructure at the expense of federal and regional funds: paved roads and bus service from the center to all villages inhabited and favored by summer residents, street lighting, gas, cellular communications and the Internet. At the same time, taking into account the increased level of unemployment in rural areas, the mechanism of public works can be used for the arrangement. Small schools, libraries, medical service centers, mobile shops must be preserved and maintained, otherwise not only young people, but also the middle generation with children will leave the village. Infrastructure development will increase the attractiveness of the countryside for migrants from other regions and even cities and for summer residents who will keep the villages.

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Instructions for updating the firmware of a rural student card

Attention passengers! To correctly take into account the discount on the Strelka card of a rural student, you need to update the firmware.

From February 1, tariffs for paying for travel with a Strelka card for a student in rural areas have changed. Now, from the 36th trip, schoolchildren of the Moscow region are provided with a 99% discount. In order to correctly account for the travel discount, the passenger needs to update the card firmware by topping it up in any self-service device of Sberbank of the Moscow Region.

To update the firmware of the Strelka card of a rural student, the user needs to select the Transport Card section in the main menu of the self-service device of Sberbank of the Moscow Region, then specify the service for replenishing the Strelka card. Then insert the card into the terminal or ATM, replenish its balance in cash for any amount and wait for the check. Minimum amount replenishment - 10 rubles. Important, keep the check until the funds are credited to the card.

Recall when paying with a Strelka card for a rural student on urban routes with a regulated fare, the cost of the first 35 trips is 15 rubles (50% of the fare of 30 rubles). Starting from the 36th trip, the fare is reduced to 30 kopecks (1% of the fare of 30 rubles).

On suburban routes with regulated fares, a student in rural areas using the Strelka card is charged a fixed price within 30 km: the first 35 trips - 15 rubles, from the 36th trip - 30 kopecks.

Over 30 km: the first 35 trips - 50% of the base rate established by Decree of the Government of the Moscow Region dated December 16, 2015 No. 1234/48. Further, from the 36th trip, students pay from 30 kopecks to 1 ruble 58 kopecks.

Instructions for updating the firmware of the Strelka card for a rural student

Background information on the design of the Strelka card for a student in rural areas

United Transport Card"Arrow" student of the countryside issued to children studying in municipal educational organizations full-time education, living in rural settlements.

A transport card is issued on the basis of a certificate of study in educational institution, an identity document (for a student under 14, a birth certificate is provided) and copies of these documents, as well as a document confirming residence in a rural area of the Moscow Region.

The cost of the Strelka card for a rural student is 200 rubles, 120 rubles are immediately credited to the balance, 80 rubles are a deposit for the card.

Detailed information about the points of sale of Strelka ETC for a student in rural areas and their availability can be foundon the website of the State Unitary Enterprise MO "Mostransavto", as well as 24/7 telephone hotline SUE MO "Mostransavto".

Scale 1:1000000. The map was compiled by Professor V.A. Kamenetsky in 1932. Inset: Population density by district.

Conventions

Description

A very clear idea of the geographical distribution of the rural population is given by a dot map of population density. On it we see black clumps of population with density indicators approaching the density of the industrial regions of Western Europe. At the same time, white spots on the map represent sparsely populated areas, wooded and swampy, with density indicators close to the density of the sparsely populated areas of the north.

The inset contains a map of the population of the city and workers' settlements, indicated by punsons (circles) of various sizes according to the number of inhabitants. The size of the circles is determined by the scale attached to the map.

The population density map, together with other maps that characterize the social and professional composition of the population, give an idea of the socio-economic geography of the population of the Moscow Region.

It is useful to study these maps in connection with industrial and agricultural maps in order to determine the production characteristics and specialization of regions.

From the atlas of the Moscow Region, compiled under the guidance of the Research Institute of Economics, a publication of the editorial and publishing sector of the Moscow Regional Executive Committee, edited by professors Kamenetsky V.A. and Baransky N.N. Printed in the 1st exemplary printing house Ogiz of the RSFSR of the Polygraphkniga trust. Circulation 5000 copies.

The concession card will allow you to travel at the rates of the Strelka card with a 50% discount.
"Unified transport student card», to make trips along regular transportation routes for students in general education institutions, full-time students in vocational educational institutions and educational institutions of higher education, as well as for children studying in additional education organizations of any form of ownership in urban and suburban traffic.

"Unified transport card of a student living in a rural area", for making trips along regular transportation routes for students in municipal educational organizations on a full-time basis of study, living in rural settlements in urban traffic, in suburban traffic at a distance of more than 30 kilometers.
"Unified transport card preferential" for travel on regular routes preferential categories citizens who exercised the right to purchase and use a single social travel document (social travel ticket) in accordance with the legislation of the Moscow Region in the field of social support certain categories citizens in the Moscow region in urban and suburban traffic.

Questions about using the unified Strelka transport card with preferential rates.
1. Categories of citizens who can use the Strelka UTC with reduced tariffs to pay for travel on public transport Moscow region.
On May 1, 2015, a unified transport card (UTC) with reduced tariffs was put into circulation in the Moscow Region:
- ETK Strelka for a student is issued to persons studying in general education institutions, full-time students in vocational educational institutions and educational institutions of higher education, as well as to children studying in additional education organizations of any form of ownership.
- ETK "Strelka" of a student in rural areas is issued to children studying in municipal educational organizations on a full-time basis of education, living in rural settlements.
- Preferential UTC "Strelka" is issued to persons receiving a pension in accordance with the law Russian Federation on the provision of pensions for persons who have passed military service, service in the internal affairs bodies, in the State Fire Service, in the bodies for the control of the circulation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, in institutions and bodies of the penitentiary system, having a place of residence in the Moscow region, having an income above twice the amount living wage per capita, established in the Moscow region, with the exception of persons in the state civil and municipal service.

2. Where can I buy preferential ETK Strelka, ETK Strelka for a student and ETK Strelka for a student in rural areas?
You can buy a Strelka card with preferential tariffing at the cash desks of the State Unitary Enterprise MO Mostransavto (point addresses are in the section of the Internet portal www.strelkacard.ru "Where to buy and top up" (https://strelkacard.ru/about/map/) )

3. What documents are required in order to get a preferential Strelka UTC?
Registration of preferential ETK "Strelka" occurs on the basis of the following documents:
- a passport or other identity document in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation;
- a document confirming registration at the place of residence in the Moscow region (if this information is not contained in the identity document);
- a document confirming the benefit (pension certificate).

4. What documents are required in order to obtain a Strelka ETC for a student?
Registration of ETK "Strelka" of a student takes place on the basis of the following documents:
- certificates of study at an educational institution or a student card;

Price preferential card"Arrow" - 200 rubles. This amount includes a deposit for the card
- 80 rubles, and 120 rubles are credited to the balance.

5. What documents are required in order to obtain the ETC "Strelka" for a student in rural areas?
Registration of ETC "Strelka" for a student in rural areas is based on the following documents:
- certificates of training in an educational institution;
- an identity document (for a student under 14 years old, a birth certificate is provided).
The cost of the Strelka preferential card is 200 rubles. This amount includes a deposit for the card - 80 rubles, and 120 rubles are credited to the balance.

6. Can the student educational institution Moscow, but residing in the Moscow region, apply for a student's ETC "Strelka"?
Yes maybe. In this case, when purchasing Strelka UTC with reduced tariffs, it will be necessary to provide a document confirming registration at the place of residence in the Moscow Region.

7. Can part-time students receive ETK Strelka at reduced rates?
No. ETC "Strelka" for a student and ETC "Strelka" for a student in rural areas are issued to students in educational organizations in full-time education.

8. How can I top up the balance of the preferential Strelka ETC, Strelka ETC for a student, and Strelka ETC for a student in rural areas?
Replenishment of the balance is possible in several ways:

- in Euroset stores;
- through a personal account on the website www.strelkacard.ru using bank card;
- through the Strelka mobile app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone;
- in self-service devices of OJSC Sberbank of Russia in cash and Sberbank cards;
- through the Sberbank Online service;
- using the electronic wallet "Yandex. Money";
- using a personal account and mobile Tinkoff apps jar;
- at suburban ticket offices and ticket machines (detailed information about card replenishment points at railway stations can be found on the website of JSC "Central PPC" and JSC "MT PPC" (active link).
No commission is charged for replenishing the balance of a card with preferential tariffing by the indicated methods.
The minimum amount of replenishment of the card at the cash desks of the State Unitary Enterprise MO "Mostransavto" is 10 rubles, through the Strelka mobile application or a personal account on the Internet portal - 50 rubles. The maximum card balance is 3000 rubles. Addresses of replenishment points - in the section "Where to buy and replenish" (active link to https://strelkacard.ru/about/map/)

9. How can I check the balance of Strelka UTC with reduced tariffs?
Number of remaining Money on the Strelka UTC account with reduced tariffs, you can check:
- in your personal account on the website www.strelkacard.ru;
- through the Strelka mobile application;
- at the box office of the State Unitary Enterprise MO "Mostransavto";
- in self-service devices of OJSC Sberbank of Russia;
- through the Sberbank Online service.

10. How much does it cost to travel under the preferential ETC Strelka, ETC Strelka for a student, and ETC Strelka for a student in rural areas?
The cost of a trip along the Strelka UTC with reduced tariffs on regulated urban routes will be 50% of full cost fare - 28 rubles. When traveling on suburban routes, where the cost of a trip depends on its distance (https://strelkacard.ru/about/tariffs-table/), the fare on Strelka UTC with reduced tariffs will be 50% of the total cost of the trip in accordance with with zonal tariffication (the cost of travel on suburban routes increases by 4 rubles every 2.5 km). Please note that the first 30 km are paid by the Strelka card of a student in rural areas on suburban routes at a fixed price - 14 rubles.

11. What types of public transport can be used to pay for travel on the Strelka UTC with reduced tariffs?
ETK Strelka with preferential tariffing can pay for travel in all vehicles operating in the Strelka system on routes at regulated fares. These are the buses of the State Unitary Enterprise MO "Mostransavto", trolleybuses, trams, minibuses (active link with the routes of municipal and commercial carriers). At Strelka ETC with reduced tariffs, you can register a single ticket at a reduced rate for students to travel to commuter trains on all railway lines

12. Will there be discounts when paying for travel on public transport of ETK Strelka with reduced tariffs in the summer?
The passenger pays for the travel of Strelka ETC with reduced tariffs on public transport in the Moscow region throughout the year.
Pay attention! There are restrictions on the use of the Strelka card with reduced tariffs when traveling on suburban trains. Registration of a single ticket for travel on suburban trains at a discounted tariff for the Strelka ETC for a student and the Strelka ETC for a student in rural areas is not possible from July to August.

13. Will the system of discounts when paying for Strelka UTC fares with reduced fares depend on the number of trips made?
In accordance with Decree of the Government of the Moscow Region dated 05.12.2014 No. 1041/46 “On Tariffs for the Transportation of Passengers and Luggage by Motor Vehicles and Urban Ground Electric Transport along Regular Transportation Routes at Regulated Tariffs”, when paying for Strelka UTC fare with reduced fares, a discount of 50 % of the total fare. The discount when paying for Strelka UTC fare with reduced fares does not depend on the number of trips made.

14. Will it be possible to tie Strelka UTC with reduced tariffs to personal account on the website or mobile application, which is currently available for the regular Strelka card?
Yes, it is possible to link a card to a personal account on the www.strelkacard.ru Internet portal or a mobile application. To do this, the passenger can download the application through the strelkacard.ru Internet portal or through WindowsPhoneStore, AppsStore or GooglePlay. After downloading, the cardholder will have to link Strelka to their personal account by going through authorization and receiving a PIN code in an SMS message. It is possible to top up Strelka's balance through the app using any bank card, after linking it to the system.
To top up, you must specify the 11-digit ETC number in the application and enter the bank card details. The user can save all the data in the system in order to replenish the card quickly and conveniently in the future. All information will be securely protected. If the user already has an account on the portal, you can optionally link it to the application account.

15. Will it be necessary to activate the Strelka UTC with preferential tariffing every month?
The passenger can replenish the balance of the card with preferential tariffing at any convenient time and any convenient way. The validity period of ETK with preferential tariffing is 12 months for schoolchildren and 6 months for students. The validity period is extended upon submission of documents confirming the fact of study (certificate of study, student card).

16. How many trips per day can be made on the Strelka UTC with reduced tariffs?
The card user can pay for no more than 8 trips per day.

17. Does ETK Strelka operate with preferential rates for paying for public transport in Moscow?
ETK "Strelka" with preferential tariffing is valid for paying for travel only on public transport in the Moscow region.

The future of the Non-Chernozem region is dachas.
Photo by Alexander Shalgin (NG photo)

Talk about the countryside of Russia as a whole is meaningless. In the north and south, in the west and east of the country, in the suburbs and on the periphery of the regions, in Russian and non-Russian settlements, one can see completely different worlds with different problems.

Throughout the twentieth century, from generation to generation, the youngest and most active people left the village for the city. The zone of the strongest rural depopulation covers almost all of Central Russia and part of the Near North. The main problem remains the departure of young people, who cannot be retained.

Demographic factor

The population thawed especially fast on the periphery of the non-chernozem regions. After all, not only in cities, but next to them, the arrangement, the possibility of choosing a job, the conditions for self-realization are much better. And the larger the city, the wider the suburban zone of increased density of the rural population around, the more active life there. Therefore, even within the boundaries of the regions, the differences in the density of the rural population between the suburbs and the periphery reach 10 or more times. And in the non-chernozem outback, there are two to four people per square meter. km, old women predominate, and alcoholism is common among the able-bodied.

The system of rural settlement is connected with the dynamics of demographic processes. In the south and in the suburbs of large cities, a significant part of the population lives in large villages of more than 1,000 people. The rest of the territory, especially in the Non-Chernozem region, was initially characterized by small settlements. The population is huddled in comparatively more viable central places. The number of dead small villages is growing, and the former medium-sized settlements are rapidly degrading, turning into small ones with the same prospects. The absence of roads to many settlements, the closure of shops, small schools, clubs intensify the degradation of unviable settlements in the outback and create new incentives for the outflow of the population.

A strong decrease in the area used in agriculture is largely the result of the long-term artificial maintenance of the collective-farm and state-farm economy in non-chernozem remote areas that have lost most of the population, or in areas of mass plowing and degradation of virgin arid lands. With the termination of huge state subsidies, the destruction of state purchases, the disparity in prices and the competition of imports, agriculture, accustomed to complete control by the administrative-party bodies and dependency, experienced a severe crisis. But since 1999, gross agricultural output has been growing steadily and is generally approaching the 1990 level. However, the sown area was reduced until 2008, and the number of cattle is still declining. This indicates a strong polarization and concentration of agricultural production.

As a result of the contraction of agricultural production to the southern fertile regions and to the suburbs of large cities (more than 100 thousand inhabitants), a supporting framework for the development of agriculture in Russia is being formed. It consists of separate areas and foci. Beyond them are zones of agricultural depression, in European Russia they are especially large to the west and north of the Moscow region. They have formed a rural community with persistently low economic results of enterprises and a lack of motivation for any activity of the population, with rejection of visitors, including farmers.

abandoned land

The crisis of agriculture was accompanied by the abandonment of land. Land loss over 40 years, according to various estimates, amounted to 30–55 million hectares, including 20–45 million hectares over the past 20 years alone. Huge areas were taken out of agricultural use. However, land use statistics do not have time to capture the real situation. It reflects much more accurately the disposal of the sown area, which has decreased by 35% over the past 20 years. In some areas, less than half of the arable land is sown, the rest is also overgrown with forest.

The vast majority of agricultural land remains with large and medium-sized enterprises. And although after the division of collective farm assets into shares, most of the land in Russia is considered private, land shares are usually leased or sold to enterprises and used (or not used) by them. The areas that are listed as arable land, but not used in any way, in Russia amount to about 40 million hectares. The crisis of the 1990s clearly revealed that agricultural enterprises, especially in the Non-Black Earth region, held much more land and livestock than they were able to process and feed.

And yet it develops

But do not think that all modern agriculture is in collapse. The situation is quite different in the south, where land is in demand, there is competition for them between large enterprises and farmers, who are also numerous in the southern regions. In some regions, farmers produce a third or more of grain and sunflower and use quite large areas (over 1,000 ha). This new way of life for Russia took root, although not everywhere. In the southern regions, there are many commercial private households of the population, in essence, shadow farms. Almost everywhere, personal farming has become an important factor in the survival of the rural (and partly urban) population and self-supply with basic food. According to statistics, people themselves grow more than 80% of potatoes, about 70% of vegetables and produce up to half of milk and up to 40% of meat.

The active formation of agro-industrial holdings - the integration of food enterprises with agricultural producers, financial and trade structures - contributes to the preservation and development of agriculture. Their creation has become an all-Russian trend since the late 1990s. The imbalance of institutional reforms and a sharp decrease in state support for agriculture required the concentration of capital to diversify risks, improve the organization of production and improve management. The impetus for the formation of agricultural holdings was given by the depreciation of the ruble in 1998 and the associated decrease in the role of imports, and, consequently, the need for the food industry to rely on its raw materials. By this time, a class of new managers had matured in Russia at large food industry enterprises, which was sharply discordant with weak management at agricultural enterprises. Moreover, not only food enterprises, but also trading firms and even companies that are far from agriculture (including such large ones as Gazprom, the Stoilensky Mining and Processing Plant, Norilsk Nickel, etc.), have found that that with relatively small investments, agriculture, especially crop production, is a profitable industry with a relatively short investment turnover. Private capital from cities, including Moscow, began to spill over into agriculture. City enterprises either acquired agricultural producers in different regions of Russia, including them in the general chain of production “from field to counter”, or entered into contracts with them for 5–10 years, investing in the purchase of equipment, updating livestock in exchange for payment with agricultural products.

The search for reliable agricultural enterprises by agricultural holdings turned out to be a difficult task, especially in the non-chernozem regions surrounding the Moscow region. Initially, businesses preferred to work with more successful suburban and southern areas, relying on strong enterprises and thereby increasing the polarization of the rural space. But its expansion beyond the suburbs turned out to be inevitable due to the high cost of land near cities and the displacement of agriculture by dacha and housing construction. Therefore, agricultural holdings began to create branches, as a rule, not labor-intensive, in depressed areas, contributing to the secondary agricultural development of abandoned lands.

Dacha and summer residents - it's so important

Another way to preserve and even re-develop remote rural areas that are losing their population is the dachas of townspeople. They are usually associated with the suburbs. But in addition to the near densely developed dacha zone, zones of medium-distance (100–300 km) and distant (300–600 km) dachas can be distinguished. The dacha zones of Moscow and St. Petersburg have already closed in the south of the Pskov and Novgorod regions, capturing the neighboring ones as well. For example, 400 km from Moscow in the Valdai district of the Novgorod region in the summer, the population increases by 3–4 times, and the border between Moscow and St. Petersburg summer residents runs along Lake Valdai.

And yet - can something be done to help developing rural areas and stop the degradation of rural areas in depressed places?

Agribusiness is not a panacea

In recent years, the government has taken steps to support agricultural producers through both the National Project and the Agro-Industrial Development Program. Imports were regulated, grain interventions were carried out, almost interest-free loans and subsidies were given to fight fuel monopolists, and so on. The main problem remains the widespread unprofitability of beef production, leading to further degradation of animal husbandry. One of the measures may be not so much the restriction of beef imports, but the improvement of pricing policy and state subsidies to the purchase prices for meat with economic incentives to increase the number of productive livestock.

However, development is always uneven and leads to economic inequality. The process of territorial division of labor in large and medium-sized agribusiness, its adaptation to natural and socio-economic conditions and restrictions lead to the modernization and increase in the efficiency of agriculture, the emergence of successful producers and entire regions. Investments in agricultural production in areas that have retained labor resources become the basis for strengthening the food security of the state. But at the same time there is a strong polarization of the countryside and the compression of the developed space.

At the same time, developed agriculture does not guarantee the development of rural areas. Agricultural "overdevelopment" in areas with difficult natural conditions, which have lost 50-80% of the rural population as a result of urbanization, has become apparent. Reasonable social policy in such conditions is necessary, but it also does not lead to equality. It is always the competition of different territories and different social groups for finances. The task is to find your own way, taking into account the corridors of possible development of different territories, and not to “sculpt” identical strategies for everyone.

Universal Strategies

But there are also federal measures that can support rural areas.

Small business. The problems of economic inequality arising in the process of polarization of large and medium-sized enterprises can be solved with the help of special measures to support small businesses in the form of not only affordable loans, but also tangible subsidies for the delivered marketable products (partially this is done at the regional level), as well as economic incentives for the processing of agricultural , forest products in rural areas and the development of any kind of activity there. The main task now is to return at least part of the otkhodniks to the village.

Replenishment of budgets. It is necessary to change interbudgetary policy (including under Federal Law No. 131) not so much in the direction of redistributing transfers, but in terms of increasing the own tax base of municipalities and rural settlements. Redistribution from the Center does not lead to development, but to dependency or settles in bureaucratic pockets. In order for local authorities to have an incentive to develop something, it is necessary to leave more funds on the ground with a partial redistribution of taxes according to the place of residence, and not work.

Earth. To find their own funds, it would be necessary to establish state subsidies for the prices of cadastral services, facilitate land surveying and ensure that all private plots of land are registered so that taxes on them and rent replenish local budgets, as well as taxes on residential buildings. Now unregistered shares are transferred to municipal property.

Attracting the population. In areas of depopulation, where investors-producers do not go, in order to maintain development, it is necessary to create conditions for attracting both migrants for permanent residence and summer residents, including by providing land for rent for at least 10 years or for ownership. When registering land plots for persons not registered in the area, including summer residents, tax and rent should be increased.

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More details: http://www.ng.ru/scenario/2011-05-24/14_map.html

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