At a government session chaired by Prime Minister Askar Mamin, Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov and Minister of Energy Nurlan Nogayev reported on the progress of the spring field work and the supply of diesel fuel for agricultural producers.
In 2020, it is planned to place crops on an area of 22.5 million ha, which is 238 thousand ha more than in 2019.
Structure of sown areas of crops for 2020
As Omarov noted, special attention is paid to the diversification of the structure of sown areas in favor of highly profitable crops and crops for import substitution.
So, this year the area for oilseeds increased by 122.2 thousand hectares, for vegetables — by 10 thousand ha, for melons and gourds — by 1.5 thousand ha, for potatoes — by 7.8 thousand ha, for fodder crops — by 308.6 thousand ha, for sugar beets — by 2.4 thousand ha.
“This will provide the domestic market with products and increase the volume of raw materials for processing enterprises,” said the minister of agriculture.
Spring sowing progress
Currently, crops are sown in all regions of the republic. In particular, grain crops and leguminous crops sowed 9.6 million hectares, or 65% of the target, oilseeds — 2.3 million hectares (76%), vegetable and melon crops and potatoes — 400 thousand ha (85%), sugar beets — 20.5 thousand ha (93%), cotton — 118 thousand ha (100%), perennial grasses — 352 thousand ha (100%).
Moreover, in the areas of the southern region, as well as in the Aktobe and Atyrau regions, sowing work is nearing completion.
According to the forecast of Kazhydromet, the third decade of May is expected to be rainy, especially for the Kostanay, West Kazakhstan, Akmola, North Kazakhstan, East Kazakhstan and Pavlodar regions.
“In this regard, it is necessary to use every good day as fruitfully as possible, take measures to increase productivity by preventing downtime, organizing, if possible, two-shift operation of units in order to complete the sowing in the optimal time,” Omarov said.
Seed supply
About 2.5 million tons of seeds were procured for the sowing campaign for the 2020 crop in the country, which ensures the complete need for seed material. To date, all seeds are tested and 100% consistent with condition.
The share of seeds of high reproductions is 99%, including 1.2 million tons of conditioned seeds corresponds to the 1-2 class of the sowing standard, 400 thousand tons of seeds corresponds to the 3 class.
Akimats of Pavlodar and West Kazakhstan regions need to strengthen work in this direction.
Provision of mineral fertilizers and plant protection products
According to Omarov, one of the factors affecting the increase in agricultural productivity is the introduction of mineral fertilizers in accordance with scientific recommendations. But, unfortunately, today, with the need of 2.5 million tons, only about 500 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers are introduced in the republic.
“In order to increase fertilizer application in 2020, subsidies amounting to 26.2 billion tenge are provided. At the same time, this year an additional 2.8 billion tenge were allocated from the republican budget to the existing 23.3 billion tenge. This will stimulate the acquisition of about 522 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers. This is 120 thousand tons more than last year,” Omarov informed.
As of May 26, 395 thousand tons of fertilizers were delivered to agricultural producers (76% of the plan). In storage warehouses in the regions there are additionally about 31.8 thousand tons of fertilizers. Work in this direction will be continued.
The systematic dynamics of fertilizer application is observed in the Kyzylorda region, where the volume of fertilizer application is 93% of the scientifically based norm, in the North Kazakhstan region — 36% and in Turkistan region — 27%.
“In other regions, there is a low level of fertilizer application, and therefore, we recommend that all akimats of the regions pay special attention to this circumstance and increase the volume of fertilizer purchases in order to obtain high yields,” the minister said.
In 2018, the requirement for the presence of agrochemical cartograms was introduced to receive fertilizer subsidies. Given the numerous requests from farmers, this requirement was delayed until 2021.
“We gave time (2 years) so that the farmers could prepare themselves and, taking into account the real agrochemical state of the soil, fertilizers were applied only where necessary,” Omarov said.
During this time, new accredited laboratories with modern high-tech equipment were opened, providing services for the conduct of agrochemical analysis of soils.
Saparkhan Omarov noted that there was enough time for the surveys, and therefore, oblast akimats needed to carry out relevant explanatory work among agricultural producers about the need for agrochemical soil surveys to receive subsidies in 2021 and subsequent years.
37 billion tenge are provided for subsidizing pesticides in the local budgets of regions for 2020, which will allow subsidizing about 16.6 million liters of pesticides.
For the first time, not only herbicides, but also other pesticides will be subsidized: these are fungicides and insecticides. In general, this will ensure phytosanitary safety of crops.
Providing fuel and lubricants
For the timely conduct of spring field work for the period February-June, 395 thousand tons of diesel fuel were allocated.
As of May 26, according to the approved Schedule, contracts for the supply of 314 thousand tons or 80% of the total volume were concluded, of which 259 thousand tons (65%) were shipped to the regions.
Agricultural machinery readiness
Agricultural enterprises have a sufficient amount of agricultural machinery for sowing.
Every year, work is carried out to update the machine and tractor fleet and to acquire modern types of sowing equipment.
The ministry, together with the regional akimats, worked out all issues regarding the unhindered movement of services, as well as repair crews for the duration of the quarantine regime.
Spring field funding
To carry out activities to support agribusiness entities, a budget loan of 70 billion tenge was allocated from the republican budget. The funds were fully issued to 2.4 thousand agricultural producers of the republic and were directed to spring field work.
Also, on behalf of the Head of State, 100 billion tenge were allocated for conducting spring field work under the Economy of Simple Things.
As of May 26, 331 applications were accepted in the amount of 19.1 billion tenge.
In addition, to fulfill the order of the Head of State, work has begun on the implementation of forward purchase of agricultural products.
Funds in the amount of 24.5 billion tenge were allocated, crops such as wheat, barley, oilseeds and buckwheat will be purchased. Currently, applications for 21.5 billion tenge have been accepted.
As collateral, guarantees are accepted for both second-tier banks and socio-entrepreneurial corporations. This will solve the problem of the lack of liquid collateral for farmers.
“For the timely and high-quality implementation of the spring field work, all available resources and tools are used, which provides the prerequisites for the completion of the planned work in optimal agricultural terms,” Omarov said in conclusion.
The Minister of Energy Nurlan Nogayev, in turn, noted that according to the order of the Head of State to provide spring field work with diesel fuel at a cheaper cost, the Ministry of Energy together with the Ministry of Agriculture approved the “Schedule of securing areas for oil refineries for the supply of diesel fuel for field work in 2020”. To date, 63% of the plan, or 245 thousand tons, is sent to the regions at low prices.
Agricultural producers today purchase diesel fuel at prices of 165 tenge per liter.
“An additional 62 thousand tons was received. We have accepted it. An additional 20 thousand tons were shipped. The remaining deliveries are carried out in accordance with the approved Schedule. There are no barriers from our side,” Nogaev said.
Chair of the Board of JSC SWF Samruk-Kazyna Akhmetzhan Yessimov spoke about the results of the project to create non-profit cooperatives in rural areas. The aim of the project is to increase the income of private farms through cooperation.
“It is a small project. They began implementation in September last year in the Akkol district of the Akmola region. There are first results. In particular, the proceeds from fattened bull-calves were 35–40% higher than with court fattening. Significant work has been done, although the project is small. The project turned out to be quite effective,” said Yessimov, while addressing the minister of agriculture and the akim of the Akmola region with a request to take this project into account for further development.
Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar noted that in general, the sowing campaign is carried out at the optimum speed. There are no problems with providing seeds, equipment, fuel. During the quarantine period, issues of the service partnership of farmers and the movement of equipment were resolved urgently. Sklyar emphasized that akims need to strictly control issues of not only timely delivery of diesel fuel, but also its quality.
Photo: Reuters
