#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Producers of Arctic products in Taimyr should unite in cooperatives. This is the opinion of Alexander Vorotnikov, coordinator of the expert council of the Arctic Development Project Office (PORA). This will increase the production and quality of Arctic food products, which have a high export potential.
“This is how food production is often organized in European countries. The cooperative includes suppliers of raw materials, transport companies and other related businesses”, said Alexander Vorotnikov.
In the North, there are two main types of agricultural products – fish and venison. By the way, more than a third of Russia’s fish resources are mined in the seas of the Arctic Ocean. Processing and storage is an important issue for Taimyr. The compensation program based on the results of ethnological expertise in 2020 provides for the purchase of equipment for the production of Arctic products. Now in Taimyr, natural exchange is widespread: meat is exchanged, for example, for diesel fuel at very low prices.
“One of our goals is to enable indigenous people to receive added value. To do this, we plan to build processing plants, which will be transferred to the management of the communities”, said PORA executive director Konstantin Dering.
In addition, the Arctic requires comprehensive processing and utilization of biowaste that remains after the products production. From 20 to 70 percent of the caught fish is wasted.
As noted by the Taimyr deputy, the Association of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation vice-president on legal issues, the interregional organization KMNSOYUZ head Sergey Sizonenko, costs are needed for vaccination of reindeer, often medical staff can only be delivered to grazing areas by helicopter, and it is expensive.
Reindeer producers could benefit from mobile slaughtering and meat processing complexes following the example of Finland.
“Today, selling dried fish is much more profitable than frozen fish. Transportation to another region doubles the cost. A ton of dried fish turns into 300 kilograms, which reduces transport costs. We make flour out of waste, which is in great demand as forage for reindeer”, said Alexey Tomsky, a Yakut businessman who has been involved in fish processing since 2008.
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Text: Angelica Stepanova, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko, Andrey Burmistrov and Sergey Anisimov
