Get planting! Minister urges a return to Soviet-era food policy to grow potatoes

Siberians should return to the days of Soviet-era potato planting in a bid to overcome the deepening economic crisis, a government minister has claimed.

Nikolay Simonov, the head of the Novosibirsk region’s food supply security, said there is a growing need to resurrect the idea of collective farming and domestic production.

And pointing out that food prices are steadily rising, he urged people to think about a return to their gardens to produce their own vegetables with the message: 'Get planting'.

Russia was once the biggest producer of potatoes in the world, with most of them grown by the population itself, but in recent years production has been falling.

The economic crisis, fuelled by the collapse in the rouble and the sanctions imposed by the West over Ukraine, has also now pushed food prices up.

Mr Simonov, who is also the Minister for Industry, Trade and Business Development, said: 'The first two working weeks of January showed higher food inflation than what we had during the last four months of 2014. 

'We must start looking for additional sources of food supplies. I believe we should address the people, and ask them to come back to their vegetable gardens - forgotten and deserted by many - and start planting. We have to resolve the potato supply issue in a calm manner, without panic.

'We’ve got to make it clear and give people a chance to realise they need to plant potatoes, because the security of food supply throughout the region is based upon guaranteed food provision to every family.'

It was the tsar Peter the Great who introduced potatoes to Russia 300 years ago and while they were at first rejected as 'devil's apples', they quickly formed part of the staple diet.

The potato became a key ingredient in many commodities as well as food, including in vodka, and during the worst famines of the Soviet era it was to save countless lives.

It also helped to ease food shortages during the Second World War.

Russia led the world in terms of potato producing, up until the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990s when China became the largest grower, followed by India. Recent figures show about 30 million tonnes of potatoes are produced in Russia every year, although that number is falling.

During the height of the Soviet era, more than a third of potatoes were grown in specialised state and collective farms, but now only 13 per cent is produced by agricultural enterprises.

In contrast, 79 per cent are now grown by ordinary people in their gardens and allotments.

Now Mr Simonov wants to get back to basics and is calling for the population to pull together to increase this number – and the quantities produced.

Speaking during a meeting at Novosibirsk City Hall, he added: 'There is only a handful of collective farms and farming estates planting potatoes. We should get ready for spring and let certain social groups have access to land so that they can find a way to arrange their own potato supplies.'