MAKHACHKALA, August 14 – RIA "Dagestan". Dagestan has launched its first agro-aggregation project in horticulture to unite small producers’ output through comprehensive acceptance, sorting, calibration, storage, packaging, commercial batch formation and logistics to final buyers.
The initiative is implemented by the Druzhba-2017 agricultural consumer cooperative in Khasavyurtovsky District on the initiative of Union of Gardeners Chairman Saidulla Oruskhanov to integrate production and marketing.
The company has signed an agreement with the Pyaterochka retail chain and already begun delivering heavy-duty plum batches, with plans to expand the assortment to include grapes and persimmons.
As to Oruskhanov, the model unites products from multiple districts, noting recent shipments from Suleyman-Stalsky and a year-end target of 1,500 tons of fruit as gardeners actively seek this mechanism.
First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Sharip Sharipov spoke of the project's far-reaching importance, recalling that between 2020 and 2026, more than 900 hectares of stone fruit orchards were brought into cultivation — a surge that has propelled Dagestan to second place in Russian plum production. In his view, the aggregator plays a crucial bridging role: it links small-scale farmers with retail chains by securing the necessary volumes and standards, all while opening up domestic produce to consumers and fuelling the region's agricultural momentum.