Kazakh President tasks to double agricultural funding

The problems that hinder the development of the agro-industrial complex development are well-known. The most pressing is a permanent underfunding of the sector. Scarce investments lead to the deterioration of agricultural equipment, low crop yield, and low labour efficiency. The Head of State charged to double agricultural funding attracting not only budgetary funds but also means from other sources, including from the second-tier banks. Easy-term loans for sowing and harvesting should be raised by up to 1.5 trillion tenge, and 800 billion tenge for investment projects. It is essential to increase soft lease financing of agricultural machinery up to 450 billion tenge annually. It will raise agricultural equipment renewal to 10% a year. These measures are called to double gross agricultural outturn.

In his September state-of-the-nation address the Head of State set a task to raise the share of processed goods in the agro-industrial sector up to 70% within three years. The Government should focus on transitioning from the raw-material orientation of the agro-industrial complex and the development of agro-processing.

The President said sustainable development of the country’s agro-industrial complex directly depends on the availability of water resources. Last year Zhambyl region farmers faced irrigation water shortage. This year Kazakhstan is also forecast to brace for drought. The new Water Resources and Irrigation Ministry is still ineffective. At the same time, the neighboring countries are more active and determined to address water deficiency problems. Kazakhstan has just recently adopted the water resources management development system concept. Irrigable lands in Turkistan and Kyzylorda region are at high risk. The county should widely introduce water-saving technologies, and launch a national water consumption campaign, to explore the practices and experiences of the neighboring countries. The Head of State highlighted providing the country with water is a crucial task, the issue of national security.