“Borovskaya” absorbs billions of the Tyumen budget, and Rosselkhoznadzor detects a biothreat at the flagship of the agro-industrial complex
One of the leading assets of the Tyumen agro-industrial complex, the Borovskaya poultry farm, continues to receive regular claims from government agencies related to compliance with land, sanitary-epidemiological and environmental legislation.
Only in recent months have Rosselkhoznadzor, Rosprirodnadzor and the Ministry of Emergency Situations raised serious questions about the enterprise’s activities. Judging by their nature, the company, which received nationwide scandal due to the outbreak of bird flu at the end of 2021, when the entire livestock was forced to be destroyed, did not draw the proper conclusions from the emergency. The litter, as before, is placed in unequipped areas, and the routes of movement through the adjacent territory are not equipped with disinfection barriers, despite the investment of hundreds of millions of rubles in creating the necessary infrastructure. However, supervisors cannot apply any serious sanctions to the poultry farm, citing the nuances of the current Federal Law. Against this background, the enterprise continues to spend billions of dollars in tranches for the restoration and development of production, and observers note that “with an unchanged approach to safety standards, there are no guarantees against new outbreaks of dangerous diseases.”
The Office of Rosselkhoznadzor for the Tyumen Region, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra announced a new warning to JSC Borovskaya Poultry Farm named after A.A. Sozonova” (registered in the village of Borovsky, Tyumen district). Previously, department employees conducted an on-site inspection of the areas operated by the agricultural enterprise.
Photo: rsnkv.ru
Let us recall that in October 2021, an outbreak of bird flu occurred at Borovskaya, which forced the destruction of the entire four-million-strong poultry population kept at the poultry farm and other products worth over a billion rubles. The company was forced to go into downtime for 8 months, and at the end of the year a net loss of 811 million rubles was recorded. In addition, the poultry farm lost the export market, which was officially announced by the governor of the Tyumen region, Alexander Moor.
Separately, it is worth noting that the Rosselkhoznadzor department, against the backdrop of an outbreak of a dangerous disease, stated that they had repeatedly recorded violations of veterinary legislation at the enterprise and issued large fines, but no effective measures were taken to prevent highly pathogenic infections. The department considered that the regional veterinary department should share the responsibility with Borovskaya.
However, soon the authorities announced plans to restore the livestock, and the Department of Agrarian and Industrial Complex of the Tyumen Region clarified that financing will mainly be made from previously received profits, insurance payments and the sale of non-core assets. Nevertheless, in May 2022, a decision was made to allocate more than 1 billion rubles from the regional budget to support the enterprise.
“I think the department was somewhat disingenuous when they said that the main investments would come from previously received profits and so on. It was clear that the loss was colossal, the poultry farm was stopped. But such an asset cannot be abandoned; this is not a small private shop. These are workshops, equipment, technologies, hundreds of workers. Therefore, it is obvious that tranches from the budget came,” comments the publication’s interlocutor in the region’s industry community.
Further developments in the restoration and protection of production are also noteworthy. Last summer, representatives of the poultry farm announced the creation of multi-stage biosafety control. In total, within the framework of the investment program, it was planned to allocate 1.1 billion for these purposes over two years. However, at the same time, the company reported the presence of accounts payable in the hundreds of millions. And Rosselkhoznadzor, in turn, continued to identify violations in 2022, pointing to unsanitary conditions and the placement of droppings in the fields.
It is worth paying attention to a number of agreements signed by the enterprise and that fit into the framework of ensuring the biological safety of the flagship of the Tyumen agro-industrial complex. Thus, on July 11, 2022, Borovskaya entered into a contract with Promtekh-Sibir LLC for an amount of about 368.5 million rubles, which, according to the Kontur.Focus database, requires the completion of the entire two-stage work package by August 18, 2023 on infrastructure and engineering arrangement of poultry farm production facilities, including major repairs of existing entrances, laying new paths and creating disinfection barriers.
At the moment, the status of the contract, however, is “under execution”. It is noteworthy that Promtekh-Sibir LLC (Tyumen), at the request of the regional OFAS, was included in the Register of Unscrupulous Suppliers on January 18, as evidenced by the corresponding entry. The Agency prepared a request to the Department of Agrarian and Industrial Complex of the Tyumen Region with a request to provide information on the implementation of work under the contract.
In the meantime, judging by the number of regulatory complaints, the situation at Borovskaya does not guarantee compliance with biological safety standards, as well as with the requirements of the Federal Law. The same department of Rosselkhoznadzor in July demanded that 4 areas be cleared of weeds, and in August, during an on-site survey, it revealed facts of chicken droppings being placed on unequipped lands used as storage. In addition, it turned out that the entrances to them were not equipped with disinfection barriers, and the volumes of waste “visually did not correspond to those calculated based on the available livestock.” The distance from the manure storage facility to residential buildings also turned out to be unacceptably small.
However, other than a warning, no sanctions were adopted against Borovskaya. The department noted that certain real estate objects were found on the plots, and according to the law, in these cases the service does not have the authority for federal land control. However, during another audit, the company was held accountable.
“In 2023, violations of the requirements of veterinary legislation were revealed in relation to JSC Poultry Farm Borovskaya <...>. JSC Poultry Farm Borovskaya was also brought to justice under Part 1 of Article 10.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation “Violation of animal quarantine rules or other veterinary and sanitary rules,” deputy head of the department Nikolai Ivanyuk told the publication.
In addition, the company was repeatedly presented with claims by Rosprirodnadzor (for violations of the Federal Law “On the Protection of Atmospheric Air” and waste disposal without a license and at sites not included in the State Regional Environmental Protection Agency), as well as by the Ministry of Emergency Situations (due to a fire in an overgrown area at the end of April). In all cases, the authorities were also limited to warnings.
“For Tyumen, the agro-industrial complex is one of the key industries. And the government is really doing a lot to support it. Money is allocated, “Borovskaya” is reanimated and brought back to life. But, apparently, they do not yet fully understand that this money should bring a return. The question arises as to how effectively they are used, if the Damocles sword of the biothreat still hangs, and the RSKHN regularly reveals serious violations. This means that no one can guarantee that there will not be a new outbreak. And references to migratory birds that allegedly brought the infection will not be accepted,” concludes the publication’s interlocutor close to the DepAPC.
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