“Everyone dreams of moving to Astana, but on the contrary, you ran away to the village.” How a businessman became a farmer

The story of Zeynolda Myrzakhmetov, the head of a peasant farm from the Akmola region, who started from scratch and now sets an example for others.

58-year-old  Zeynolda Myrzakhmetov  was once a successful entrepreneur in the capital. But ten years ago, he radically changed his life, moving from Astana to the Zharkainsky district, where he is now developing his own farm - farm "TEMP". He sows wheat, barley, raises livestock and plants melons. Informburo.kz visited his farm and was surprised how a former city resident manages to develop agriculture and livestock farming on small lands.

... In 2013, the entrepreneur sold his business and real estate in the capital and bought an abandoned farm near the village named after Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gastello in the Zharkainsky district, 440 km from Astana. It was an old, crumbling former pig farm that needed to start from scratch. 

The farmer's Niva, howling from tension, takes us through the sticky spring mud to his farm.  

“I lived here on a farm for several months, got enough sleep for the first time in many years, went fishing. The swelling immediately went away and my health returned to normal. The doctors didn’t believe it when, after two years on a horse, my herniated disc disappeared by itself,” said Myrzakhmetov.  

In 2014, the farmer sowed wheat for the first time. Back then there was only a tractor and a combine harvester. He started with 120 hectares and is now sowing on 850 hectares. He says he could sow more, but there is no free land around. The area is considered the largest grain-growing area in the Akmola region.

“The fields at KH at that time were overgrown with tall, impassable weeds. My two sons and I plowed all summer. In the first year, there was a weak harvest. In the second year, chemicals were used. We planted the Shortandinsky zoned variety of wheat, adapted for our risky farming. And in 2016, "Powdery mildew (a fungal plant disease) spread to the fields throughout the region, and even that year we harvested 16 centners per hectare. Everyone had low gluten, but we had a gluten content of 29. Everyone was surprised," the farmer recalled .

In the first years, the farmer had enough of his own strength to sow small areas, but he wanted more, and then Zeynolda Myrzakhmetov in 2020 took out his first loan under the state program to support agricultural producers through the  Agricultural Credit Corporation .

“We took six million tenge for spring field work at six percent per annum. We put the land as collateral. We bought seeds, fuels and lubricants, herbicides. The peculiarity of this loan is that you don’t have to pay monthly. And you repay the loan in full in the fall after harvesting. This is very convenient. Otherwise, we would have to take out a bank loan, sell livestock or borrow from friends. In general, sacrifice something. This year we also took six million. In the future we want to take more, sow and expand," the farmer commented.

As the harvest increased, Myrzakhmetov began to buy agricultural equipment and acquired his first livestock. Now there are 60 horses and about two hundred sheep in the farm. At first they also dealt with cattle, keeping breeding bulls, but because of the small pastures they decided to give up raising cows. Nowadays, KH has its own “Kirovets”, a caterpillar tractor and two wheeled tractors, a KAMAZ and two combine harvesters. In addition, the farmer began planting potatoes and vegetables at KH. During Covid, he helped a local hospital with meat and vegetables, motivating other local entrepreneurs and farmers to follow his example.

“For the first year, everyone told me why do you need this? Everyone dreams of moving to Astana, but on the contrary, you run from there to the village. They say, it’s unprofitable to feed on the land. But I always remember that the eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing,” Zeinolda shared his advice Myrzakhmetov with those who doubt whether to sow.  

The farmer plans to build his own granary, since now he has to store grain in other people's warehouses. And also improve the infrastructure of the economy. The farmer also does not have enough pasture and hay land to develop livestock farming. He is negotiating the purchase or lease of neighboring lands, but the owners, for various reasons, are in no hurry to agree.  

https://informburo.kz/special/vse-v-astanu-mectayut-pereexat-a-ty-naoborot-v-aul-sbezal-kak-biznesme...