A large investment project in livestock farming is being implemented in the Kostanay region. We are talking about the feedlot of Terra LLP. Thanks to government support in the form of the Agrarian Credit Corporation, its capacity was increased 7 times - from 3 to 22 thousand heads of livestock. Today, the Kostanay feedlot sells 80 percent of its products for export, providing jobs for 130 people.

This is one of the largest feedlots in Kazakhstan where cattle are raised. Now the capacity of the Terra partnership reaches 22 thousand heads of livestock for one-time maintenance. But it was not always so. In 2011, when the enterprise first opened, the goal was to fatten 3,000 head of cattle.

“In 2016, with the support of the Agrarian Credit Corporation, we received financing, expanded to 8,000 heads of one-time housing, and in 2018 we also received financing from the Agrarian Credit Corporation to expand the feedlot to 22 thousand heads. The financing was provided on preferential terms,” says Marat Utelbaev, director of Terra LLP.

The final interest rate for the business was 6 percent per annum. Today the company has a full cycle of beef production: from growing feed to slaughtering livestock. Over the last year and a half alone, the partnership has exported 9,000 head of cattle to the countries of the Customs Union. The share of credit funds from the Agrarian Credit Corporation in the project was 85 percent.

“We approached the Agrarian Credit Corporation because it is a specialized quasi-state financial institution that provides financing under programs directly suitable for the development of the agricultural industry. That is, not a single second-tier bank in Kazakhstan today can provide conditions that are flexible and suitable for agriculture,” says the director of Terra LLP.

Among the important advantages of cooperation with ACC: a long financing period - 10 years or more, as well as a grace period mechanism for repaying the principal debt; the repayment schedule is built taking into account the seasonality of the client's sales.

“In order for a farmer to receive a loan for this investment area, he must have his own funds in the order of 15 percent of the cost of the loan, with which he participates in the project. It is also necessary to provide collateral,” says Dulat Mukhamedzhanov, head of the department of the branch of Agrarian Credit Corporation JSC.

The company’s plans are to establish deep processing of beef, and therefore they are again considering the option of implementing the project through ACC. Investing in feedlots is one of the activities of the Agricultural Credit Corporation. To date, it has financed 39 feedlots across the country for a total amount of 35 billion tenge.