A. Myrzakhmetov pays a working visit to West Kazakhstan region

As part of the State program this year, 65 types of subsidies were revised, 11 ineffective subsidies were eliminated, 40 saw changes in criteria, and the remaining 14 were left unchanged.

In livestock breeding, the changed criteria allowed increasing the coverage of subsidy recipients several times within the same funds. If earlier subsidies for beef were given to 175 farms, today the coverage was 522 or 100%. Subsidies for milk increased 2 times, for lamb - 1.3 times, for wool - 3.6 times. Also, subsidizing of mutton was replaced with the more popular lamb.

In connection with the underloading of existing wool processing enterprises, it is envisaged to subsidize not only fine, but also half-bred wool.

As of July 1, 2017 in West Kazakhstan, Aktobe regions there is an increase in the number of cattle, small cattle, horses, poultry.

One of the priorities for AIC development is the involvement of small and medium-sized farms in agricultural cooperation. In order to intensify the work on establishing agricultural cooperatives, the Ministry of Agriculture developed a scheme for purchasing milk-receiving and slaughtering stations without an initial contribution by transferring them to leasing through the JSC "Fund for Financial Support of Agriculture". As an initial contribution, it is envisaged to use allocated investment subsidies in the amount of 50% of the total cost.

As of July 21, 2017, the country saw creation of 517 cooperatives against the backdrop of the planned 467.

The meeting discussed issues of agro-processing development. The Ministry of Agriculture has established a database of processing enterprises, which includes an assessment of the current status, capacity, year of commission, type of equipment, loading and output.

To date, there are 1345 active processing enterprises in the country. There are nine priority types of processing, which are represented by 435 enterprises, which include processing of milk, meat, hides, wool, oilseeds and crops, fruits and vegetables, sugar beet and potatoes. For them, a Placement Plan of agro-processing enterprises was developed, including for each region, in the context of districts.

Particular attention was paid to veterinary safety. In general, the first half of the year shows an improvement in the overall epizootic situation in the country for especially dangerous animal diseases compared to the same period last year.

During the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture answered all questions voiced by farmers.

In addition, A. Myrzakhmetov visited the Zhangir Khan West Kazakhstan Agrarian Technical University, and the POSH Runo LLP animal skin-processing enterprise.