At the regular government session chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, the issues of sowing progress were considered. Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerbol Karashukeyev, akims of the North Kazakhstan region Kumar Aksakalov, Akmola region — Yermek Marzhikpayev reported on the matter.

In order to coordinate all issues related to sowing, providing agricultural producers with seeds, agrochemistry, equipment, financing, the Republican Operational Headquarters was created, which includes all interested bodies and organizations, as well as deputies of akims of regions. All emerging issues of the sowing company were resolved within the framework of this headquarters.

According to the operational data of the akimats of the regions, as of June 7 this year. sowing of grain crops has been completed in all regions, except for Aktobe (97.7%) and West Kazakhstan regions (86.2%). In these regions, sowing work was delayed due to heavy rainfall during the sowing period, and it is planned to complete it by the end of this week.

Thus, spring crops were sown on an area of ​​19.8 million hectares or 100.2% of the planned plan, potatoes - on 189.6 thousand hectares, vegetables and gourds - on 269.2 thousand hectares, perennial grasses — on 429.6 thousand ha.

“Sowing of oilseeds on an area of ​​3.1 million hectares, sugar beet — 12.3 thousand hectares, cotton — 121.1 thousand hectares has been completed. The total sown area amounted to 23.1 million hectares, which is 105 thousand hectares more than in 2021,” the Minister of Agriculture said.

In accordance with the ongoing diversification of sown areas and work to move away from monocultures, the area of ​​grain crops has been reduced by 285.5 thousand hectares. There is an increase in priority crops, such as oilseeds by 24.9 thousand hectares, potatoes by 2.4 thousand hectares, vegetables by 1.7 thousand hectares and fodder crops by 448.1 thousand hectares.

For the timely implementation of the sowing campaign, all the necessary measures of state support have been taken (reduced fuel and lubricants, soft loans, etc.).

“This year, diesel fuel in the amount of 400.2 thousand tons was allocated for sowing work (for the period February-June), which is 20 thousand tons more than last year. Taking into account the expenses of regional operators for delivery, storage and sale, the average price for agricultural products is 200 tenge/liter, which is 15% cheaper on average. So, as of June 7 this year, with a plan of 400.2 thousand tons, 378.5 thousand tons of diesel fuel or 95% of the plan were paid for, 359 thousand tons were shipped. In general, fuel is shipped to farmers in accordance with the approved schedule,” Karashukeyev informed.

According to the reporting data, seed filling was carried out at 100% of the plan, there were no problems with the availability of seeds, including Russian selection. The examination of seeds prescribed by law was carried out, according to the results, 99% of them were recognized as conditioned, 92% correspond to the 1st and 2nd class of the sowing standard.

In general, 11.8 billion tenge is provided in local budgets to subsidize the purchase of seeds this year. As for fertilizers, according to regional akimats, about 670.2 thousand tons of fertilizers are planned for the current year, which is 43.7 thousand tons more than last year.

So, as of June 7 this year, 396.1 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers were shipped to farmers, in total contracts were signed for the shipment of 478.3 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers. The remaining planned volume of fertilizers will be applied in autumn.

At the same time, it should be noted that 38.4 billion tenge is provided for subsidizing the purchase of mineral fertilizers, incl. an additional 11.6 billion tenge was allocated from the republican budget. That is, 50% of the cost of purchased fertilizers will be reimbursed by the state.

In addition, the Government has carried out work to reduce the cost of domestic fertilizers. The main issue for the successful implementation of the VPR is to provide farmers with financial resources.

“This year, through the Agrarian Credit Corporation JSC, the total amount of financing for spring field and harvesting work will amount to 140 billion tenge. Here it is necessary to note the support of the Government in allocating additional funding in the amount of 70 billion tenge,” said Karashukeyev.

To date, within the framework of the Ken Dala program, more than 3 thousand agricultural enterprises have been financed in the amount of 84.1 billion tenge. Lending under this program will be continued, including for plant protection measures, as well as harvesting.

As of today, as part of the forward purchase of NC Food Contract Corporation JSC, 552 applications have been received from 371 agricultural enterprises for the amount of more than 93.7 billion tenge. 441 applications of 303 agricultural enterprises were financed in the amount of 80 billion tenge.

In addition, the allocation of 20 billion tenge for forward purchases was approved to form a grain forage fund in the amount of 200 thousand tons, which, in the event of a recurrence of the drought in 2021, will ensure the safety of livestock and poultry.

The list of purchased crops has also been expanded to ten items, such as soft wheat, durum wheat, barley, oats, sunflower, flax, rapeseed, soybeans, buckwheat and corn.

Thus, the total amount of funding under the forward purchase program of the Food Corporation will be 100 billion tenge.

The government has taken all the necessary measures to carry out spring field work in the best possible time.

According to RSE Kazgidromet, in general, favorable weather is observed for the future harvest. Precipitation is expected in all grain-growing regions. At the same time, in the southern regions there is a lack of moisture supply. In this connection, akims of the southern regions need to take timely measures to provide farmers with irrigation water.

The next step in preserving and increasing yields is plant protection measures. Within the framework of the Republican Operational Headquarters for conducting spring field work, emerging issues are resolved and the sowing campaign is under the constant control of the Ministry.

In turn, Akim of the North Kazakhstan region Kumar Aksakalov said that sowing work has been completed in the region on an area of ​​4.3 million hectares.

“As part of the diversification, the sown areas of sunflower by 1.7 times, lentils have been increased by 1.5 times. The area of ​​socially significant buckwheat was more than 10 thousand hectares,” the akim informed.

71 thousand tons of preferential diesel fuel were allocated for spring field work. It is planned to introduce 170 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers. To date, about 100 thousand tons have been applied on an area of ​​1.5 million hectares. The remaining 70 thousand tons will be applied during the vegetation and post-harvest periods.

According to the head of the region, the average rainfall for the month of May was 24.9 mm. To improve the quality of planting material, the volume of elite seeds sown annually increases. This year, the variety renewal rate will be 9.2%, which corresponds to scientifically based standards.

“Chemical processing of fields has begun. In total, it is planned to carry out herbicide treatment on an area of ​​3.4 million hectares, against diseases and pests on 1.3 million hectares. Every year, financial institutions work to finance spring field and harvesting work,” the akim of the region said.

So, this year, the Agrarian Credit Corporation financed 20.8 billion tenge. Through KazAgroFinance, 231 applications for 8 billion tenge were financed. Under the forward purchase program, 106 applications for 29.5 billion tenge were financed.

Akim of Akmola region Yermek Marzhikpayev informed that spring field work in the region was completed on the entire planned area in the optimal agrotechnical terms. To maximize the accumulation and preservation of productive moisture in the soil, all necessary agrotechnical measures were taken.

“This year, spring sowing has been increased by 57 thousand hectares and amounts to 5.1 million hectares, while the area of ​​grain and leguminous crops has been expanded by 27 thousand hectares to 4.6 million hectares. In order to increase the volume of production of socially significant food products, the area of ​​oilseeds has been increased to 283 thousand hectares, potatoes and vegetables to 20.1 thousand hectares,” said Marzhikpayev.

At the same time, in order to fully provide livestock with fodder, the area of ​​fodder crops was increased by 9.1 thousand hectares and amounted to 185 thousand. 530 thousand tons of seeds were sown, 65 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers were applied, 72 thousand tons of fuel and lubricants were allocated.

More than 16,000 grain seeders and 1,400 high-performance sowing complexes are involved in the sowing campaign of the current year.

A significant role in the renewal of the agricultural machinery fleet was played by the effective implementation of such state support measures as: investment subsidies and subsidizing interest rates on equipment leasing.

This year, 727 agricultural machinery pieces were purchased for 20.6 billion tenge.

“This year, about 87 billion tenge was allocated, including more than 48.1 billion tenge in the form of non-refundable state assistance (subsidies). To finance spring field work, 380 agricultural producers were financed for 38.5 billion tenge. This measure made it possible to carry out the whole range of spring field work at the proper agrotechnical level,” summed up the akim of the Akmola region.