Kazakhstan, Astana, 28 January / Trend D. Mukhtar /
Shortage of seeds by 2013 planting season in Kazakhstan is approximately 67,000 tons and will be covered from the state reserves through redistributing seeds between areas, Ministry of Agriculture informed Trend.
About a week ago, Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan has sent an official letter to the main agricultural institution of the country calling to pay more attention to the problem of possible seeds shortage for sowing in the coming year. According to the Union, the concern is the fact that due to the severe drought, many farmers of the Western, Northern and Central Kazakhstan lost their crops and, accordingly, seeds.
"We estimate that in the current year from the effects of adverse weather conditions (soil and atmospheric drought) grain and oil crops were fully or partially lost over an area of 1.5 million hectares. Drought mainly struck Aktyubin and West Kazakhstan region and partially the southern areas of Kostanai and Akmola regions. Loss of crops was also evidenced in some areas of Karaganda and Pavlodar regions. As for officially announced information on loss of 1.1 million hectares, it is not entirely true. The reason is well known: the regional authorities in order to improve the ratings were overstating the crop productivity," the letter from the Union to the Ministry of Agriculture said.
In turn, the Ministry of Agriculture replied that according to the latest data compiled by the regional departments of agriculture, the area of "lost" crops in the country makes 1.406 million hectares. To be more specific, the grain lost included: 1.167 million oilseeds, 222,000 melons, 6.5 thousand potatoes, sugar beet - 7.5 thousand, and cotton - a little more than three thousand acres. The totals on the damage caused by summer 2012 drought will be given by the Kazakh Statistics Agency.
As for the main issue of seeds provision, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, the 2013 sowing will require about 2.112 million tons of seeds of agricultural plants. According to preliminary data, Aktyubin region lacks 12,300 tons, Kostanai and Pavlodar regions lack 53,000 and 2,000 tons respectively.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, the deficit will be partially covered by the seeds from the state reserve: "Food Corporation" is in charge of forming a seed reserve of 50,000 tons by 2013 sowing; over 21,000 tons are already available. Deficit will be partially covered through redistribution of seeds between regions; the regional authorities have been instructed to provide funding from local budgets in case of emergency. According to the ministry, regional authorities report on preparations for the 2013 planting season on bi-monthly basis, so the situation is under control.
