Deputy Minister of Agriculture Azat Sultanov at a Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov reported on the work being done to fulfil the President's instruction to start financing spring field and harvesting work in 2025 already this year.

He noted that the volume of financing is planned to reach 700 billion tenge. In order to provide funds in the specified amount, currently in the draft budget for next year provides 45 billion tenge. In order to fulfil the President's instruction to start financing in December this year, a draft resolution of the Government has been developed and submitted for consideration.

"Agrarian Credit Corporation will start financing from 29 November in the amount of 100 billion tenge. At present, applications have already been received from more than 500 agricultural enterprises. Funds will be available to farmers through second-tier banks, credit partnerships, social-entrepreneurial corporations and the Agrarian Credit Corporation itself," Azat Sultanov said.

In order to provide the industry with long-term and affordable credit resources, the system of subsidising farmers' loans will be revised with a transition to preferential lending. This will reduce risks for agribusiness, arising in the absence of budgetary funds. There will also be restrictions on issuing loans in the absence of funding, which will prevent business dissatisfaction. For example, the mechanism of subsidising loans through the Damu fund is working.

Deputy Minister also said that currently the workload of licensed grain elevators is 43%. The work has been switched to round-the-clock mode. A total of about 7.2 million tonnes of grain, including 5.2 million tonnes of wheat, from the new crop has been delivered to the bread receiving enterprises.

"The remaining volume of harvested grain is stored with farmers. Under the forward contracts of the current year, as well as taking into account the prolongation of last year, the Prodkorporatsiya will purchase 1.2 million tonnes of grain. At the moment 550 thousand tonnes of grain have been received, or 46%," Azat Sultanov noted.

The representative of the Ministry of Agriculture added that within the framework of fulfilment of the Head of State's instruction, direct purchase of grain of the new harvest will also be carried out. At the expense of allocation of funds from the reserve of the Government it is proposed to purchase 150 thousand tonnes of products at market value at the first stage. Additional funding in the amount of 75 billion tenge is required for a larger-scale purchase.

Work continues on the movement and sale of grain to free up elevators to receive the harvest. Thus, for 10 months of the current year KTZ transported 7.9 million tonnes of grain cargo, of which 1.9 million tonnes within the country and 6 million tonnes for export. In August-October, 3 million tonnes were transported, of which 2.4 million tonnes were exported, including about 320,000 tonnes of grain exported by Prodkorporatsiya.

In order to increase the availability of agricultural machinery, next year 200 billion tenge will be allocated for the programme of preferential leasing at 5%. At the same time, it is planned to increase production of domestic agricultural machinery: combines by 34%, tractors by 43%, and trailed machinery by more than 50%. It is also planned to start localisation of AMAZONE machinery, which is in demand among farmers.

The plan for 2025 provides for the purchase of 1.9 million tonnes of mineral fertilisers by farmers. This will be facilitated by the already existing mechanism of advance subsidies for domestic plants. In order to reduce import dependence on fertilisers, it is planned to launch new production facilities and modernise existing plants. Ammonium sulphate production at KazAzot has been launched this year.

"An important issue is the stability of prices and schedule of fertiliser supplies. New memorandums on price fixing will be concluded with domestic producers, the earlier memorandums have shown their effectiveness. Each Akimat is currently working out a delivery schedule with specific volumes, which will become a benchmark for production plants," Azat Sultanov emphasised.

Stimulating measures are also envisaged for the development of organic fertiliser production. From 2028, the norm on subsidising the cost of organic fertilisers of industrial production will be introduced.

Development of domestic seed production is envisaged by the Comprehensive Plan, in particular, measures to strengthen the material and technical base of subjects of breeding and seed production, improvement of the legislative base, transfer of the agrarian science system to modern methods of research activities and updating of educational programmes. Their implementation will make it possible to increase the share of areas sown with domestic seeds to 75-80 per cent by 2030.

In addition, within the framework of implementation of the Head of State's instruction, the Institute of Horse Breeding will function on the basis of Aktobe Agricultural Experimental Station. At present, a legal entity has been registered. The Ministry is working out the issues of financing and staffing. At the same time, a number of measures are envisaged to provide the industry with qualified personnel.

The Speaker also added that the industrialisation of the agro-industrial complex will be ensured by developing the processing industry and increasing the share of processing of agricultural products.

On the instructions of the Head of State, a comprehensive plan for the development of processing of agricultural products for 2024-2028 has been approved. It provides for preferential financing of processing enterprises both for investment purposes and for replenishment of working capital. This will make it possible to increase the share of processing of rice, corn, buckwheat, sunflower, meat, milk to 70 per cent, as well as to increase food production by 1.4 times by 2028.

As part of further digitalisation and automation of the agro-industrial complex, it is planned to ensure transparency in receiving state support measures. On the instructions of the Head of State, subsidies will be transferred to a ‘one-window’ format. A traceability system is being introduced in crop and livestock farming, all processes will be monitored, and market actors - from producer to consumer generation will be taken into account.

#The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Agriculture #Government session