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Russia's program to substitute import of greenhouse vegetables will cost 300 billion rubles ($4.4 billion), according to President of the National Union of vegetable growers, Sergey Korolev, Russian information agency RIA Novosti reported.
Korolev noted that import substitution program cannot be implemented in view of a difficult economic situation in the country.
"Market disruption and decline in demand, high key interest rate, the ruble volatility and the cost of equipment that has doubled," Korolev said when outlining the main challenges.
Other negative factors are low profitability of vegetable production in Russia and the absence of entry barriers for vegetable imports, according to Korolev.
He calls for amendments to the customs and tariff regulation, technical regulation of the market, improvement of vegetable import safety, as well as government support for the industry.
According to Korolev, the imported vegetables account for up to 70% of the domestic market in the winter season.
Lack of import-substitution industries leads to increase in prices for food products, Korolev said.