Kazakhstan’s cotton breeding shows decline
Kazakhstan’s cotton breeding is facing a decline. The growing area and cotton gross yield are shrinking, as well as the profitability of enterprises and the interest of farmers are decreasing, Kazinform News Agency cites Energyprom.
The National Statistics Bureau reports confirmed last year raw cotton output neared 61.2 billion tenge in money terms, while last year's index of actual volume made 92%, 8% down in real terms. Such a stagnation in the sector has been seen since 2022 when the total value of the output was almost twice as high.
25,000 farm households operate in the cotton growing sector employing some 70,000 people. Small farmers face a decline of 11.4% in real terms with an index of actual volume at 88.6%. Smaller individual entrepreneurs and farming households account for 91% of the country’s cotton breeding, while the large agricultural enterprises make up a slight share. Last year, their index of actual volume stood at 150.7%.
Turkistan region is the only to grow cotton. For the past 20 years its growing land halved from 223,700 to 106,400 hectares. An acute water shortage remains the major cause of the decrease in planting acreage, the Agriculture Ministry said. Besides, farmers export 85% of the domestically produced raw cotton abroad and process only 15% of their cotton output.
