Kazakhstan’s Agricultural Industry Shows Positive Growth Despite Pandemic

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan is experiencing a positive growth trend in the agricultural industry, according to the reports available on the Prime Minister’s website on Primeminister.kz. 

The map of the regions for ecosystems to develop the crop production and agricultural processing. Click on the picture to see the map. Photo credit: Primeminister.kz.

Based on the preliminary results of 2020, the gross agricultural production increased by 5.6 percent and reached 6.3 trillion tenge (US$15 billion). The growth is mostly due to an increase in crop production of about 7.8 percent. 

The gross livestock production increased by 3 percent and amounted to 2.6 trillion tenge (US$6 billion). 

Photo credit: Primeminister.kz.

Investments in agriculture increased by 15 percent and amounted to 573.2 billion tenge (US$1.1 billion). Food production increased by 13.5 percent and amounted to 104 billion tenge (US$250 million). 

Crop production remains one of the priority areas. In this light, the Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture intends to create ecosystems for crop production and agricultural processing as part of the state program.  

Photo credit: Primeminister.kz.

This allows local producers to participate in export pricing of final goods and have more opportunities for the production and deep processing of grain, seed oil, fruit and sugar production. 

The vertical cooperation will be implemented to enlarge farms, ensure material, technical infrastructure and sustainable sales.

The grain production and processing ecosystem will be further developed in the Taiynshinski district of the North Kazakhstan region. The main advantages of the region are land resources and the availability of raw products. Some 19 percent of the country’s wheat sown areas are located in that region.

The production line for the production of bioethanol will be completed at the BioOperations plant in the North Kazakhstan region. Earlier, lines for the production of flour, starch, gluten, feed for agricultural animals were put into operation. 

The sugar production ecosystem will be developed in Shu town, in the Zhambyl region. The raw material base will be developed through the restoration of additional irrigated land and the creation of an irrigation system. Local farmers will be united into the agriculture cooperatives for the joint cultivation of sugar beets. They will have their own material and technical base, which includes equipment, seed fund, plant protection products and fertilizers. 

The Almaty and Turkestan regions are considered to be the top locations for planting an orchard and launching a fruit processing plant. At the end of 2020, 1,800 hectares of apple orchards were planted in these regions. 

An ecosystem for oilseeds is expected to be launched in the Akmola and East Kazakhstan regions soon as well.

Despite the pandemic related restrictions, Kazakh farmers managed to perform sowing and harvesting works according to the plan and to launch new facilities for the production of finished products. The government also has supported the agricultural producers with additional measures. 

Overall, more than 20.8 million tons of grain was collected in 2020. This meets the internal food supply and allows the country to increase its export potential.

The ministry has also expanded the list of Kazakh enterprises in foreign supplier registers. 

Kazakhstan now exports to China, Iran, Commonwealth of Independent States, European Union, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia. The list of goods include beef, lamb, fish, honey, wheat, wheat bran, soybeans, alfalfa, rapeseed meal, barley, corn, flax seeds, wheat flour, frozen and chilled lamb, beef, chicken eggs, wheat, barley, sunflower seeds, rape, flax and other products. 

The export of processed products also demonstrated a positive trend. The export of processed products increased by 17.3 percent ($1 billion) in the first 10 months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 ($871.5 million). 


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