The development of agricultural enterprises in South Ossetia needs foreign investment, stated at a press conference in Tskhinval the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic Mairbeg Guchmazov.
According to him, to attract foreign investment into the industry it is necessary to create favorable conditions.
"Without external investment we will not raise any enterprise, another thing is that we have nothing to offer to potential investors so far - said Guchmazov. - If the Republic featured at least one processing plant, it would be possible to attract investors."
To date, there are several proposals, including from the North Ossetian investors, who come from South Ossetia, who are ready to invest in the agriculture of the Republic.
He has reminded that the Republic has already adopted a law on public-private partnership.
Answering the question whether it is possible private ownership of land in South Ossetia, the minister said that talking about it is premature.
"In my opinion, for investors private property is more attractive, but more realistic in the current climate of South Ossetia is a long-term lease of land", - said Guchmazov.
Summing up the harvesting in 2013, the Minister said that due to the dry summer the harvest was less compared to last year.
"The croppage was about 27,000 quintals of grain, that is 6,000 less than last year," - he said.
A significant part of the crop, according to the minister, is lost every year due to lack of grain harvester combines and other agricultural machinery.
"There are only seven grain harvester combines in the Republic. In addition, some of them are in poor condition, they must be written off. However, we try to maintain them in working condition,"- said Guchmazov.
According to the Minister, today in the Republic are functioning 112 farms from among the 500 registered ones. Basically all of them are engaged in livestock breeding and grain farming.
"The volume of production is minor. Unfortunately, they are mostly small farms,"- he said.
According to him, the development of farms is greatly hampered by the lack of a system of concessional lending.
"Farming needs surplus funds. The only way is to borrow from someone or take on credit. But to draw credit funds at 18% per annum, which we have today in the Republic, is impossible for farmers, "- said Guchmazov.
