Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 17
By Fakhri Vakilov-Trend:
Uzbekistan should increase export of fruits and vegetables to $5 billion a year, Trend reports referring to the press service of Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The head of state set this goal at a meeting on October 16, dedicated to the priority tasks of the development of livestock and horticultural industries. In the nine months of this year, product exports reached nearly a $1 billion.
To achieve this goal, a number of problems have to be addressed. In particular, it is necessary to determine options for the effective use of vacant land, read the message.
According to the president, work in this direction is still not carried out at the proper level. Thus, in the Kibray and Tashkent districts, 912 hectares of orchards (20 percent) and 164 hectares of vineyards (13 percent) are outdated or have low profitability.
In addition, during the inspections, 1,400 hectares of unused rainfed land were identified, as well as 4,040 hectares of land where grain is grown. Furthermore, 19 agricultural processing enterprises in these areas are far from operating at full capacity.
The press service reported that a completely new system of work will be introduced in all 55 districts of the country that specialize in growing vegetables and fruits. It is planned to organize cooperatives there with the participation of processing enterprises and exporters sending their products abroad under their own trademark.
The president instructed the ministries of finance and agriculture to prepare specific proposals for the implementation of the new system and the financing of cooperatives, read the message.
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