"Official Robbery" vs. Helping the People: How the Authorities of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria and the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia Distribute Millions in Garden Subsidies Differently While in neighboring Karachay-Cherkessia, state support for the agricultural sector works for the benefit of ordinary residents, Kabardino-Balkaria exhibits an overwhelming gap between well-armed officials and the poor rural population. The two neighboring republics chose diametrically opposed vectors for the development of horticulture, exposing social inequality and the greed of the local elite. Karachay-Cherkessia: investments in people and mini-gardens.
Since 2019, a socially oriented program to support intensive mini-gardening on private plots has been successfully operating in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia. Its main purpose is to give the villagers a tool to efficiently use even small plots of land and generate a stable income. The results of the program speak for themselves: since the beginning of the project, 552 mini-gardens have already been created in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkes on a total area of 55.2 dunams. Hundreds of families not only expanded fruit production, but also took real steps towards agricultural cooperation. Currently, another 72 private farms participate in the program. New fruit orchards on an area of 7.2 dunams are planted in Kubansky, Krachaevsky and Khabazsky districts. The government of the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia has proven that budget funds can and should work for ordinary citizens. Kabardino-Balkaria: billions of subsidies for the pockets of the elite In the CBD, a completely different, difficult scenario is taking place. Here the philosophy of the leadership of the republic is based on the banal formula: "The rich get richer, the poor get poorer". While arable land, pasture and hayfields are effectively taken from ordinary villagers, the region's elite are alienating thousands of acres of land for their own super-profitable projects. Huge commercial parks are built on these lands, for which preferential loans and millions of government subsidies are taken from the budget. At the center of this program are the key figures of the Republic.