New harvest to fully meet Kazakhstan needs in bread and flour

Within the framework of the harvesting campaign in Kazakhstan has already collected enough grain to fully meet the needs of the republic in bread and flour. This became known during the Government session of the Republic of Kazakhstan, El.kz cites primeminister.kz.

As reported by Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov, the total harvested area of crops in the current year amounted to 24 million hectares, which is 652 thousand more than in 2022. To date, grain harvesting is being completed in all regions of the country. According to regional akimats, 16.9 million hectares (98.7%) have been harvested. With an average yield of 9.7 c/ha, 16.4 million tons of grain in initial weight, including 11.4 million tons of wheat, have been threshed.

In general, despite poor weather conditions, the expected gross grain harvest is 16 million tons. This, taking into account transient residues of 3 million tons is enough to fully provide the country with bread and flour.

At the same time, 4.3 million tons of vegetable crops, 3.5 million tons of potatoes and 1.6 million tons of oilseeds have been harvested in the republic, in particular, 747.5 thousand tons of sunflower have been threshed.

The Minister added that 426,000 tons of discounted diesel fuel at a price of 250 tenge per liter was allocated to agricultural organizations for timely harvesting work. In addition, given the current situation, it was decided to allocate an additional 62.5 thousand tons of discounted diesel fuel for drying grain and oilseeds.

Akims of Kostanay region Kumar Aksakalov, Akmola region Marat Akhmetzhanov, North Kazakhstan region Gauyez Nurmukhambetov and Deputy Akim of Karaganda region Baurzhan Assanov also told about the results of the harvesting campaign.

Prime Minister emphasized that the current year was very difficult for farmers. Dry and hot summer negatively affected the growth and formation of grain crops. Then, frequent and heavy rainfall further reduced yields and deteriorated the quality of grain.

"The weather also hampered the harvest. The harvesting campaign was delayed. Of the wheat that arrived at elevators, about 40% was classified as ungraded. But Kazakhstanis will not be left without bread. Taking into account the carryover from last year, the harvest will be enough to fully satisfy the domestic market," Alikhan Smailov said.

He recalled that domestic farmers were provided with the necessary support from the state. In particular, fair purchase prices were set. Credits and loans were prolonged without penalties. Preferential diesel fuel has been allocated, including for grain drying.

Along with this, measures are taken in terms of fulfillment of obligations to pay subsidies in full. Thus, the first 30 billion tenge has already been allocated for crop subsidies.

In addition, a decision has been made to allocate funds for the implementation of direct purchase of wheat.

"I would like to note once again that there should be no problems in the domestic grain market. Stability of availability of flour and bread is ensured through the reserves of "Prodkorporatsiya" and regional stab funds," Prime Minister emphasized.

However, Head of the Government pointed to the need to intensify work on the introduction of modern irrigation technologies. This will reduce water consumption and increase crop yields.

"It is required to pay special attention to the cultivation of local varieties adapted to the sharply continental climate of our country. Work on breeding new varieties of wheat is weakly carried out. It is necessary to carry out a complete reset of the agrarian scientific system," he pointed out.

According to Prime Minister, a separate issue is the renewal of agricultural machinery, as the level of its wear affects the pace of sowing and harvesting works. 

In this regard, Alikhan Smailov instructed to work out specific proposals for the development of scientific potential of the agro-industrial complex, including domestic breeding of grain crops, as well as additional incentive measures to update the fleet of agricultural machinery.

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