Ministry of Agriculture develops systemic measures to fulfill President’s instructions

The Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Yerbol Karashukeyev reported on a number of systemic and operational measures being taken to fulfill the instructions of the Head of State given at the extended government session on July 14.

So, first of all, the head of the Ministry of Agriculture announced a comprehensive solution to the issue of import substitution. In general, by the end of this year, it is planned to implement 237 investment projects for the development of the agro-industrial complex in the amount of 295 billion tenge, including 81 projects worth 128.5 billion tenge for 6 types of imported items. To do this, concessional lending to these projects, subsidies, provision of land resources and infrastructure will be provided.

“In order to provide the country with sugar, a Comprehensive Plan for the Development of the Sugar Industry will be developed. The plan provides for an increase in the raw material base by expanding the acreage of sugar beet through the introduction of new irrigated lands, the introduction of water-saving irrigation technologies, the development of seed production, as well as the technical and technological re-equipment of existing capacities for processing sugar beet, the construction and modernization of sugar factories. Accordingly, the measures of state regulation and support of the sugar industry will be strengthened,” Yerbol Karashukeyev said.

Measures will also be taken to increase the volume of imports of white sugar and the processing of raw cane sugar.

On behalf of the Head of State, in order to stabilize prices in the domestic market, together with the Ministry of Trade and Integration, the issue of prioritizing financing of agricultural producers under the “revolving scheme” will be worked out, including by intensifying work on the development of the mechanism of forward contracts. In parallel, the question of the further functioning of regional stabilization funds will be considered.

To form a balance of basic food products, relevant rules will be developed and approved, and work will be strengthened together with the Ministry of Trade and Integration on the automation and integration of data on stocks and the availability of socially significant food products. This will allow you to have reliable data on product balances for making the right decisions.

As for the problem of access of agricultural producers to retail chains, in order to solve it, together with NCE Atameken, it is planned to develop approaches to support farmers for integration with large retail chains. The issue of linking the developed system of subsidies, concessional lending with counter obligations of agricultural producers to supply products to processing and trade enterprises at stable prices on the basis of forward contracts will also be worked out.

In order to develop seed production, it is planned to develop a separate Strategy for providing the Republic of Kazakhstan with seeds of agricultural crops of domestic selection and reducing import dependence, which provides for the creation of a research and production center for seed production, where “breeding – seed production – production” will be combined in a single chain, improving the material and technical base for seed production at all levels. In addition, starting next year, based on the experience of developed countries, a new information system will be introduced that allows digital tracking of the progress of seeds of high reproductions from originators to commercial farms, which will make it possible to establish strict control over their use.

“In order to upgrade the machine and tractor fleet, investment subsidies are offered, interest rates on loans and leasing are subsidized, as well as preferential loans and leasing through Baiterek's subsidiaries. The implementation of these support measures has made it possible only over the past five years to increase the level of purchase of agricultural machinery by 2 times from 8.5 thousand to 17 thousand units,” said the Minister of Agriculture Karashukeyev.

In order to provide agricultural producers with mineral fertilizers, the department plans to maintain the existing mechanism for subsidizing fertilizers. The issue of increasing the volume of concessional lending for revolving purposes will also be worked out.

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