Food Security Priorities in Russia

Progressing development of Russia’s agricultural sector in the past decade has contributed to the significant increase in exports of wheat, soybeans, and other agricultural products. Further expansion of food exports is emphasized in Russia’s Food Security Doctrine adopted in 2020. One of the critical factors of such improvement in agricultural production and trade is the efficient use of the country’s land resources, mainly irrigated lands. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the area of irrigated lands in Russia has been decreasing. The decline has been halted only recently, but the area of drained lands is still shrinking. About 30–50 million ha agricultural lands are abandoned in Russia due to land privatization faults, while about 70% of irrigated lands are not irrigated properly. In the past years, the measures to engage abandoned lands back to agricultural production have been taken on the regional level, including in the sparsely populated Far East. To ensure the efficient use of agricultural lands and ongoing improvement of the country’s ameliorative system, such measures should be complemented by implementing state programs in the sphere of land use. In light of the achievement of food security and agricultural development targets in Russia, this study explores the use of various categories of agricultural lands, including irrigated, drained, unused reclaimed, and underused irrigated lands.