News
EAEU breeders and seed growers join efforts to create Eurasian sugar beet hybrid
An Agreement on interaction between the EAEU countries' breeders and seed growers of sugar beet hybrids and the Eurasian Sugar Association was signed within the conference “Sugar Market of the CIS Countries. Stable Supply and New Challenges”.
The sides plan to cooperate on issues of mutual interest, including the preparation and implementation of programs for developing selection and seed production of sugar beets, including in the development of science and technology to obtain competitive sugar beet hybrids and seed production. Breeders and seed growers will also focus on combating counterfeit and low-quality seed products, developing international cooperation and the exchange of experience, policy-making and legal activities.
Speaking at the forum, Armen Harutyunyan, Director of the Agricultural Policy Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission, informed the conference attendees about the joint efforts of the EEC and the EAEU countries on developing and implementing by the Union States of unified requirements in the field of testing varieties and seed production of agricultural plants, as well as the mutual recognition of documents certifying the varietal and sowing qualities of seeds.
“Only close interaction between the business community and academia of our countries, coordinated by the Commission, will enable to identify areas for possible cooperation in the agricultural sector,” Armen Harutyunyan stressed.
The Commission's representative noted the upward trend in developing the Union's agricultural sector, and the high level of self-sufficiency in agricultural products. For the period from 2015 to 2022, the increase in the Union's agricultural production as a whole amounted to 25.8%. The strongest growth was registered in Kazakhstan - 31.1% and Russia - 27.4%. Trade indicators demonstrated positive trends as well. In 2021 as compared to 2015, mutual supplies of agricultural products and food increased by 1.7 times (up to 11.9 bln dollars), and exports increased more than twofold (up to 35.7 bln dollars).
"Such results contributed to the increased availability of the main types of agricultural products and foodstuffs in the Union. According to the joint balances of supply and demand of the Member States, this indicator was 92.6% in 2022,” concluded Armen Harutyunyan, Director of the Agricultural Policy Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
The conference "Sugar Market of the CIS Countries" is held annually by the Eurasian Sugar Association jointly with the International Sugar Organization. The forum is traditionally attended by agricultural producers, leading companies producing and selling sugar, grain crops, by-products - sugar beet pulp and molasses, representatives of the banking and financial sectors, as well as transport and logistics companies.
