MOSCOW, March 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's agricultural gross output increased by 2.8% in 2006 year-on-year, which is twice as much as was expected, the Russian minister of agriculture said Thursday.
"Summing up the results, last year was another stage in agricultural production rises," Alexei Gordeyev said. "We had forecast growth would be two times lower."
He added that over the last eight years Russian agricultural production had increased by 34.5%.
Agriculture receives significant state support, which increased further in 2006 with the launch of a priority national project to develop the agro-industrial sector.
