ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 29. A meeting of the
Economic Growth Support Headquarters, chaired by the Vice Prime
Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin,
discussed the development of the East Kazakhstan and Pavlodar
regions, as well as the agricultural sector, Trend reports.
On the course of the meeting, it was noted that the share of
agriculture in Kazakhstan’s GDP is 3.9 percent. The goal for
economic growth in the sector this year is to achieve a +2 percent
increase compared to last year’s indicator.
“Over the past two months, the volume of gross agricultural
output increased by 3.2 percent, reaching 434.1 billion tenge
($868.2 million). The planned indicator is expected to be achieved
through the implementation of long-term state support approaches
for agricultural entities,” noted the press service of the Prime
Minister of Kazakhstan.
According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture Azat Sultanov, an
important factor in making subsidized loans available for spring
fieldwork (SFW) was the ability to obtain loans through
Agricultural Consumer Cooperatives (ACC) in 2024.
“Now, farmers can access subsidized loans for SFW through six channels: the Agrarian Credit Corporation, ACC, second-tier banks, credit cooperatives, regional investment centers, and microfinance organizations (MFOs). To date, approximately 5,000 applications have been submitted, totaling 367.3 billion tenge ($734.6 million). ACCs lead in the volume of loans issued (39 percent of the total funds issued). Additionally, the program of loan guarantees for spring fieldwork for farmers with insufficient collateral continues, with 502 guarantees issued this year totaling 85.9 billion tenge ($171.8 million), and loan amounts reaching 101.1 billion tenge ($202.2 million). For the entire last year, 401 applications were guaranteed for 80 billion tenge ($160 million), with loan amounts totaling 94.2 billion tenge ($188.4 million),” said Sultanov.
The meeting also noted that in the food production sector, over the past two months of this year, there has been growth in sugar production (from 15.200 tons to 65.600 tons), vegetable oil by 26.7 percent, sausage products by 12 percent, butter by 11.2 percent, flour by 6.8 percent, and dairy products by 3.5 percent.
“Similar to seed work financing, it is planned to allocate 48.5 billion tenge ($97 million) at 5 percent annual interest for processing enterprises to replenish working capital,” noted Sultanov.
Following the report from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Vice Prime Minister set the task for the regions to continue diversifying the crop areas in accordance with the recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture.
“We need to transition to growing more in-demand and high-margin crops, as this is probably the only way to achieve the economic growth target for agriculture. Efforts to gather applications for processing and food production projects under the government's investment order are weak. All regions must inform entrepreneurs about the opportunities for accessible financing through the ACC,” underscored Zhumangarin.
To further develop food production in Kazakhstan, a Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Agricultural Processing is being implemented. As part of the plan, 37 investment projects worth more than 30 billion tenge ($60 million) were launched in 2024. These are enterprises producing cheese, meat products, vegetable oil, cereals, and more. Over the next three years, 58 investment projects worth over 176 billion tenge ($352 million) are planned.
