Alkeyevsky District

Local relief

The Alkeyevsky District is located in the southern part of the republic. It borders the Samara and Ulyanovsk Oblast, as well as Spassky, Alekseevsky and Nurlatsky districts of Tatarstan.[7]

Forests have been preserved in the northern part of the district. The main rivers are Maly Cheremshan (tributaries of the Ata, Shiya, Yukhmachka), Aktay and Bezdna.[8]

The district coat of arms depicts a horseman who symbolizes a historical interconnection between the state of Volga Bulgaria and the district. Four multi-colored fields symbolise the changing seasons and represent agricultural focus of the region. A gold color indicates yield, abundance, stability, respect and intelligence. Silver is a symbol of purity, perfection, peace and understanding; red - labor, strength, courage, beauty; blue - honor, nobility, spirituality; green - nature, health and growth in life; purple - fame, honor and greatness; and black is a symbol of wisdom, modesty, eternity of being.[9][10]

The flag is designed on the basis of the coat of arms. It has a rectangular form divided horizontally by yellow and green stripes. A blue diamond with a rider in the center reaches the top and bottom of the canvas.[11]

During the Stone Age, district territories were one of the centers of human settlement in the Middle Volga region. To the most significant archaelogical sites scholars refer the Staronokhrat, Staromatak, Tyugulbaevskoe and other hillforts, around 126 kurgans and 130 villages. Later, the territory of the modern region was part of the Volga Bulgaria. According to one of the local legends, the name of the region originates from the Bulgar Alp-batyr.[8][9]

Until 1920, the territory was part of the Spassky district of the Kazan Governorate. Lter it was transferred to the Spassky canton of the TASSR. Alkeevsky district was formed on August 10, 1930. In February 1935, the Kuznechikhinsky District was separated from the southern and western parts of the district.[12]

Initially, the administrative center was the village of Alkeevo (now Nizhnee Alkeevo). In 1937 (according to other sources - in 1932) the regional center was moved to Bazarnye Mataki. In February 1944, the Yukhmachinsky district (abolished in 1956) was formed from the southern part of the Alkeevsky and the eastern part of the Kuznechikhinsky districts. In October 1960, most of the territory of the abolished Kuznechikhinsky district was transferred to Alkeevsky. On February 1, 1963, as part of the reform of the administrative-territorial structure of Tatarstan, the Alkeevsky district was abolished, the territory was transferred to the Kuibyshevsky, but two years later, on January 12, 1965, the district was restored to its current borders.[13][14]

In 1999, Ferdinat Davletshin was appointed head of the district, who held this position until 2014. In September 2015, this post was taken by Nikoshin Alexander.[15][16][17]

According to data for 2019, the average monthly salary constituted 25 620 rubles for employees of organizations; 25 617 rubles for employees of municipal institutions of culture and art; 17 727 rubles for preschool educational organizations. In the period from 2010 to 2020, the ratio of wages to the minimum consumer budget increased from 1.88 to 2.3 times, and the unemployment rate from 2013 to 2020 slightly decreased from 1.58% to 1.11%.[18][19]

Agriculture

Agro-industrial complex in Bazarny Mataki

Fire department in Bazarny Mataki

The main direction of the economy is agriculture, with a focus on pastoral farming and pig farming. The agro-industrial complex produces about 80% of the gross regional product. 125.2 thousand hectares have been allocated for the needs of agriculture, of which 114.8 thousand hectares are arable land. In the region there are food enterprises for the production of bread, bakery, pasta and cereals, flour, vegetable oils, semi-finished products from meat, dairy products. The main regional enterprises: "Krasny Vostok Agro", the industrial pig-breeding complex "Salman", "Khuzangaevskoye", "Yash Kuch" and 43 private peasant farms.[20][21]

From January to September 2020, regional companies shipped goods worth 391 million rubles. For comparison, for the entire 2013th the same economical indicator constituted only 104 million. In the first half of 2020, gross agricultural output amounted to almost 1.15 billion rubles (for the entire 2013 this figure was almost 1.8 billion).[19]

Natural monuments of regional importance on the territory are the floodplain of the Maly Cheremshan River and the Tatarsko-Akhmetyevskoe peat bog. There are plants listed in the Red Book of Tatarstan: betula humilis, pyrola chlorantha, epipactis palustris, cirsium palustre, marsh dremlik, marsh thistle and others.[24][4]

Educational building in the village of Appakovo

There are 33 educational institutions, 40 kindergartens and three institutions of additional education in the district, such as the House of Children's Art, a children's music school, and a children's and youth sports school.[18] There are also 36 libraries and two museum located in the district – the "History and Local Lore Museum named after Sergei Mikhailovich Lisenkov" in the village of Bazarnye Mataki and the Museum of the People's Poet of Chuvashia Pyotr Petrovich Khuzangai in the village of Sikterme-Khuzangaevo. The religious sphere is represented by 30 Muslim and 5 Orthodox parishes. Since 1932, the local newspaper "Alkeevskie Vesti" ("Әlki hәbәrlәre") has been published in Tatar and Russian languages.[9][20]

• Official website of the district