Russians require vegetables, greenhouses and irrigation

On the second day of Macfrut, in Rimini (Italy), the chances to do business with Russia, especially in the province of Belorechensk, in the region of Krasnodar, were discussed. This area of agriculture is developing quickly. The production of fruit and vegetables increases exponentially every year and it is all absorbed by the domestic market. In order to continue producing at the same rate, new technologies and new knowledge are needed.

Evgeniya Kravchenko

"Apart from the embargo, Evgeniya Kravchenko, marketing and food promotion expert between Italy and Russia, explained, there are realistic chances for foreign investors to operate in the Russian Federation. For example, in order to support agriculture which has to feed about 150 million people, some 1,500 hectares of greenhouses have to be built in 4 years time.

The region of Krasnodar in the red circle.

The region of Krasnodar is at the same latitude as North-Centre Italy, thus, weather conditions are pretty similar. The nearest port, on the Black Sea, is 50 kilometres away. The airport is 100 kilometres away.

The speakers at the conference

"Russia is facilitating foreign investors by giving fiscal aid", Eugenia Podmareva, legal adviser, affirmed.

Eugenia Podmareva. On the left, Marino Inio

Marino Inio, managing director of UniCredit International Center Italy, talked about money and investments. "The Russian economy is undergoing some difficult times, due to the drop of oil prices. Russia has imported raw materials and other goods for years. Now the government has realised that they should produce on site, but they need investors, knowledge and technologies, also in the fruit and vegetable sector".

"Our production is increasing considerably in terms of volumes but we lack post-harvest tools and the right technologies suitable to the production. Macfrut made us understand a lot of things", one of the Russian farmers, Petr Emelyanov, underlined. A couple of Russian farmers from the audience asked for new varieties of strawberries and drip irrigation plants.

Few people attended the meeting. A missed opportunity

Our reflection
It was a pity that there were so few Italians attending a meeting where foreign operators asked for technologies in the farming sector. If foreign business people come from far away countries they really wish to do business. There were few attendees also at a meeting organised by the Albanian operators. Italian business people must have had to stay at their stands, that's why they could not attend the meetings. In the future it is worth organising the schedule of the meetings so no opportunities will be missed.