ASTANA – Kazakhstan must still rely on many imported goods. Zarechnyi, the country’s largest agricultural product supplier, is intending to change this by launching the nation’s first oatmeal corn producing plant near Pokrovka village in the Akmola region.
Photo credit: canopybridge.com.
“Today, as a rule, Russia supplies oatmeal to our stores, but now Kazakhs will have their own oatmeal, high quality and ecologically clean,” said Zarechnyi Director Ualikhan Aripov, as quoted by inform.kz.
The plant will use the latest technologies to automate nearly all stages and ensure deep processing. The company estimates the new equipment should allow it to process two tonnes of oats per hour. To accommodate the volume, the facility will employ 20 people working in two seven-hour shifts.
Aripov believes once the plant begins operating at full force, it should help to significantly cut imports, as well as replenish the number of Kazakh goods containing oatmeal under the brand name Bakha-Söhne exported to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
“We chose oats, as they are in high demand on the market today. Moreover, we have acreage and oats are an unfussy herb in our conditions,” he added.
Zarechnyi Director Ualikhan Aripov. Photo credit: voxpopuli.kazakh.ru.
The company will complete plant construction in a year or two. Excavation work has already begun.
A feeding platform with a capacity for 1,000 cattle will be built on the side of the facility to accommodate the deep processing technique. Without it, 40 percent of the oats would be wasted.
“If we process 10,000 tonnes of oats per year, we will have 4,000 tonnes of waste. We will use them on the feeding platform. Near Pokrovka there are two villages, Borisovka and Poltavka; more than 1,000 people live in each. We are planning to buy young stock from the population and put it for fattening. This is for the beginning and in the future, perhaps, we will breed Simmentals (Swiss Fleckvieh cow breeds) or Anguses (Scottish cow breeds) there. To do this, we will need a food supply, which we have not yet developed,” said Aripov.
Aripov is among the Nation’s 100 New Faces and known for his constant support of social causes and charities. Zarechnyi, his family business, has extensive experience in the agricultural field. The company has elite seed farming status for producing grain, perennial grass seeds and cereals and signs 10-15 memorandums on social responsibility every year.
