During his working trip to Turkestan region from 19 to 22 May, Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin met with wheat producers of Kazygurt district and cotton growers of Maktaaral district, El.kz cites primeminister.kz.
As of today, 469.3 thousand hectares of lands have been sown in Turkestan region. More than 100 thousand hectares of them are in Kazygurt district. Wheat, barley, corn, legumes, oilseeds and vegetables are grown here. Almost 2 thousand hectares are orchards. 133 thousand hectares are allocated for pastures. The overwhelming majority of agro-formations are peasant farms (3,375). There are also 127 cooperatives and 105 partnerships. Livestock breeding is very developed, especially sheep breeding, almost 400 thousand heads.
Yerzhan Kobeyev, director of Kazygurt Agro LLP, raised the issue of increasing the rate of fertiliser application, which is subject to subsidies, and the rate of cheap diesel fuel consumption for farmers at a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister.
"If they increase the norms, we will be able to double till the land and improve the soil," he said.
Serik Zhumangarin replied that on the farmers' side, they need to apply for fertiliser in time to build up the necessary stock at manufacturing plants.
"This year 35 billion tenge is allocated for subsidies for fertilisers in the country, we plan to contribute about 1.5 million tonnes, for this purpose we will increase the volume of subsidies already this year. We plan to increase the volume to 3.2 million tonnes in the next few years. You also have the opportunity to get fertilisers this year, you need to apply," he said.
Agrarian Spandiyar Baigulov asked a question about the cancellation of subsidies for foreign agricultural machinery.
"I wanted to take a combine harvester for harvesting John Deere on credit for 140 million tenge, and I was told that at 6% as before will not be given, but only at 15%, because there are no more subsidies. Is this true?" he asked.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Azat Sultanov replied that subsidies will no longer be given for the purchase of foreign equipment whose counterparts are made in Kazakhstan. Subsidies will be 30 per cent for domestic machinery. At the same time will continue to subsidise foreign agricultural machinery, the production of which is not established in Kazakhstan, at the level of 25%. But combines for harvesting are produced in our country in sufficient quantity.
In Mactaaral district Serik Zhumangarin familiarised himself with the progress of spring field work on cotton. Here production co-operative "Hamro Ata" together with Chinese "Peng Seng" planted cotton on 310 hectares by technology of drip irrigation. The peculiarity of the project is that it saves the volume of wastewater by 50 per cent compared to cotton fields planted in the simple method. This increases the yield by 60-70 centners per hectare.
Here Deputy Prime Minister was also presented the projects on cultivation and processing of cotton, the realisation of which started this year. These are clusters "Cotton makta" worth 10 billion tenge, "Tulpar Textile" worth 15 billion tenge (production of threads), "TST Jetisay Textile" (cotton processing, production of threads, fabrics and textiles), as well as joint export-oriented cluster "Global Textile Turkestan" worth $50 million with Uzbek partners.
At the meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister, cotton growers also raised the issue of the possibility of recalculating the norms for issuing favourable diesel fuel for spring field work, taking into account the peculiarities of the region. In addition, the issue of delaying subsidy payments was raised.
"We have allocated 376 thousand tonnes of diesel fuel at a reduced price for this year's sowing campaign. At first 340 thousand, and after clarifying the needs we increased it by another 36 thousand tonnes. Now we allocate 580 billion tenge at 5% per annum for farmers for spring field work. Submit applications, take money for development," Serik Zhumangarin addressed to cotton growers.
At the meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister, cotton growers also raised the issue of the possibility of recalculating the norms for issuing favourable diesel fuel for spring field work, taking into account the peculiarities of the region. In addition, the issue of delaying subsidy payments was raised.
"We have allocated 376 thousand tonnes of diesel fuel at a reduced price for this year's sowing campaign. At first 340 thousand, and after clarifying the needs we increased it by another 36 thousand tonnes. Now we allocate 580 billion tenge at 5% per annum for farmers for spring field work. Submit applications, take money for development," Serik Zhumangarin addressed to cotton growers.
Also, within the framework of the trip, Deputy Prime Minister familiarised himself with the progress of construction of corn processing plant, greenhouse complex "ECO-culture", bananary and development of dairy farm "Borte-milka".