In the southern regions, agricultural crops were sown on an area of 379.3 thousand hectares

A press conference dedicated to the start of the 2019 sowing campaign was held at a special field site of the Central Communications Service in the Turkestan region. The press event was attended by Deputy Director of the Department of Production and Processing of Crop Products of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan Akpar MAULENOV, Head of the Strategic Planning and Analysis Department of Agrarian Credit Corporation JSC Sayat Aetov and Head of the Regional Department of Agriculture Nurbek Badrakov.

This year it is planned to plow more than 22 million hectares. The area of competitively in-demand crops, such as oilseeds, cereals, grain fodder, legumes, and fodder crops, will increase significantly by reducing the area of wheat, water-intensive crops and the development of free fallow lands. (barley and corn for grain - by 57.2 thousand hectares, sugar beets - by 2.6 thousand hectares, forage crops - by 654.1 thousand hectares).

In agreement with the Ministry of Energy, 380.0 thousand tons of diesel fuel were allocated for the period March - June (375.0 thousand tons in 2018). Taking into account the increase in acreage, an additional 5.0 thousand tons of diesel fuel were allocated to the regions. Fuel will be supplied to the regions in accordance with the approved schedule. The Ministry of Energy has set a price of 160 tenge/liter (193.0 thousand tenge/ton) from the refinery; taking into account the delivery of operators, the average price in the regions will be 176 tenge/liter, which is 10% cheaper than the market price (gas station - 195 tenge/liter).

In 2019, 60 billion tenge were allocated for lending to agricultural entities within the framework of the Ken Dala program, the interest rate for final borrowers does not exceed 7% per annum. Lending to agricultural producers is carried out through credit partnerships - 13 billion tenge, second-tier banks - 14 billion tenge and direct lending - 33 billion tenge (through branches of ACC JSC). This distribution is conditional, since funding will be provided as applications are received.

This year in the Turkestan region, the sown area of agricultural crops will be 824 thousand hectares, which is 9.8 thousand hectares more than last year. In accordance with the diversification of crops, the area of wheat will be 174.8 thousand hectares, cotton - 121.2 thousand hectares, vegetables, melons and potatoes - 124.2 thousand hectares, oilseeds - 100.6 thousand hectares, corn on grain - 45.9 thousand hectares and fodder crops - 207.6 thousand hectares.

Today, 175 thousand hectares are already sown with spring crops, including vegetables - on 19.2 thousand hectares, potatoes - on 9.4 thousand hectares, melons - on 15.4 thousand hectares, alfalfa - on 40.5 thousand hectares, barley - by 34.2 thousand hectares, wheat - by 7.8 thousand hectares, safflower - by 48.5 thousand hectares.

Moreover, in accordance with the program for subsidizing the cost of mineral fertilizers, it is planned to subsidize 96 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers. Funds in the amount of 4.3 billion tenge are provided for these purposes. To date, 33 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers have been supplied to the region.

18 thousand units have been prepared for spring field work. tractors, 2,900 units. cultivators, 1,800 units. seeders, 12,900 units of plows. It is worth noting that 627 agricultural cooperatives have been created in the Turkestan region, uniting about 55 thousand small farms. Commodity producers are provided with seeds of spring crops in full. 13 farms are engaged in seed production.