ASTANA – The Kazakh delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin visited Australia to study the best practices in animal husbandry and agriculture on Dec. 11, reported the Prime Minister’s press service.
Australia is one of the top exporters in the world, taking the lead in both lamb and beef exports. Photo credit: primeminister.kz
Australia is one of the top exporters in the world, taking the lead in both lamb and beef exports. The nation’s products are sold in over 100 markets.
The delegation visited the Australian largest agriculture and livestock enterprises, such as Meat and Livestock Australia, which represents over 3,500 beef and lamb and 6,000 red meat and wool producers in South Australia, Roseworthy Campus of the University of Adelaide, and Elders company that sells around 1.3-1.7 million head of cattle and 10 million sheep a year, accounting for 20% of the market.
Elders have worked with Kazakh partners before in building farms from scratch.
“We worked with Sever-Agro when there was a program to revitalize the red meat industry in Kazakhstan. Two production facilities were launched in Karabalyk (the Kostanai Region): Sever-Agro and Terra. At Sever-Agro, we imported about 4,500 Angus cows from Canada, the USA and Australia. We also organized rainfed land for the farm of about 6,000 hectares with fences for growing cattle in the summer,” said Elders agro-manager and consultant Bruce Creek.
“We use good nutrition – this is our method. In Australia, there are more problems with heat, while in Kazakhstan, [there are] temperature fluctuations. I believe that everything in your country can be how you want it to be. You have land and investment opportunities. You are located in the center. You can feed many countries. The main thing is to establish trade,” added Creek.
According to Kaiyrzhan Nauryzgaliyev, partner of the Terra group of companies, Australian experience could contribute to increasing the output of Kazakh farmers.
“We were in Australia 12 years ago, adopting their experience, as there were no farms of such capacity in Kazakhstan. Today, our site is the largest in the country. There are prospects for further growth, so we came to Australia again to learn new experiences because it is one of the largest exporters of beef in the world,” said Nauryzgaliyev.
“We plan to expand and increase efficiency. For example, Terra, which has a 20,000-head capacity, turned over 27,000 heads last year. In the East Kazakhstan Region, our other fattening site for 5,000 heads surpassed 7,000 heads. As we see, this is not the limit. With minimal investment, we can double the turnover,” he added.
