ASTANA, Kazakhstan, July 16. Kazakhstan exported 2.6 million tons of grain from January through May 2024, said Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov during the meeting, Trend reports.
"From January through May 2024, 2.6 million tons of grain were shipped for export. The main buyers of Kazakh grain are Uzbekistan, China, Tajikistan, Italy, and Afghanistan," he said.
As he noted, exports to China increased by 66 percent.
"Thus, in the first five months of 2024, 254,200 tons were exported to China, while in 2023, the volume was 152,800 tons," the minister said.
According to him, as of July 1, grain reserves in Kazakhstan amount to 6.1 million tons, 5 million tons of which are wheat (including food wheat - 4 million tons).
Notably, Kazakhstan plans to double its gross agricultural output within five years. In this regard, the government of Kazakhstan is introducing new approaches to the development of the agro-industrial complex. The corresponding document was approved by the government following a meeting in January.
Thus, a roadmap has been developed that provides for measures in each area of the agro-industrial complex.
Kazakhstan will therefore step up its agricultural area diversification. This will consequently lower the proportion of the driest crop and raise the yields of very valuable plants, such as oilseeds. In addition, water-saving technologies are to be introduced, fertilizer application will be increased, and agricultural machinery will be thoroughly updated.
In addition, the roadmap also includes measures aimed at increasing the number of large and small livestock, expanding meat and grain processing, launching dairy farms, and other facilities.
In general, the implementation of the roadmap will allow increasing the gross output of the agro-industrial complex by 2 times to 17 trillion tenge ($38 billion) by 2028.