Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated workers of the agricultural and processing industry on their professional holiday. (Kremlin Photo)

MOSCOW, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia has signed a decree to allocate 3 billion rubles (46.03 million U.S. dollars) to upgrade agricultural equipment in the country and reduce the financial burden on lessees, the Russian government said Saturday.

"The signed decree made a decision on a budget allocation in the amount of 3 billion rubles from the reserve fund of the Russian government in 2019 in order to increase the rate of renewal of the fleet of agricultural equipment and reduce the financial burden on lessees," a government statement said.

It is envisaged that the use of these funds will allow 374 units of new self-propelled agricultural equipment, including 153 tractors and 221 combine harvesters, to be additionally supplied on financial leasing terms for seasonal field work, the statement added.

Russia's agro-industrial complex has been renewing its agricultural equipment on various preferential terms in recent years, which provided agricultural producers with new equipment totaling 22 billion rubles (337.6 million U.S. dollars) in 2012-2018, according to the government.

In May 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree for Russia's roadmap of strategic development that sets targets of the national development in a wide range of spheres up to 2024, which includes further improvement of the country's agro-industrial complex.