Farmers of Akmola region voiced urgent problems

In Akmola region the farmers together with the Akim of the region Yermek Marzhikpayev discussed urgent problems in agro-industrial sector during the exhibition "Agro-Koshtau 2022". They touched upon such issues as delayed subsidies, land issues, space monitoring and difficulties with leasing agricultural machinery, World of NAN reports.

According to Galimzhan Abdykalikov, Deputy Akim of the region, farmers' backlog of subsidies amounts to 3.1 billion tenge, including 2.5 billion tenge for plant protection products, and the rest for livestock. In addition, due to a sharp rise in the cost of mineral fertilizers and PPP, there were problems with the establishment of standards for their reduction. This led to delays and lengthening of financing terms. As a result, payments were shifted and will be made in May and June. 

Farmers in the audience said, "we suffer when the money does not come on time. Because of this we cannot get seeds, etc. It is necessary to reconsider the terms of receiving. This needs to be worked on from October".

Regional Akim assured that this issue is being worked out. However, according to him, this year there may also be arrears on subsidies.

"At the end of 2021, 46.7 billion tenge was allocated for subsidies to farmers, and this year there is 47.1 billion tenge. Due to a shortage of funds, the regional Akimat sent a request to the Ministry of Agriculture for the allocation of additional 15 billion tenge from the national budget, "- added the Deputy Akim.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Abay Kozhakhmetov, a novice agrarian of the region, addressed the authorities.

"Last year we took land, but we need agricultural equipment. We were sent to KazAgroFinance with this question. There we were told - do you have any cultivated land? Do you have any crops? And they asked to bring a certificate that we sowed. Only after that they were ready to consider our proposal. Since we had just started, there was no sown area yet. We bought old equipment, bought seeds, fertilizers, seeders, cultivated the land and came to KAF. We said - we cultivated everything. We asked if there was an option for us to get a harvester in autumn. But now it turns out that there are no harvesters, and we do not know when they will be any. There is a big risk that there would be no harvesters. This is the procedure. In other words I want to build a house, I come to the bank to get a loan for the foundation and they ask me - if we have walls and a roof. When you have them, we'll give money for the foundation, "- stated his problem a novice farmer, who asked to reconsider this procedure.

Akim of the region promised to work out this issue individually.

Then the problematic issue of unused land plots was discussed. According to Deputy Akim's report today based on data from Qoldau portal (space monitoring) there are 2.5 thousand land users not using arable and pasture lands in area of 3 mln ha, including 2.6 mln ha of pastures and 374 thousand ha of arable lands.

Regional Akim Yermek Marzhikpayev questioned the objectivity of this statistics. Deputy Akim supported the doubts: "Qoldau system is not 100% reliable. The portal shows the liquidated land users. It shows incorrectly digitized users. Small plots are not accounted for. We applied to Qoldau to update the system with identification of farm animals".

Akim wanted Qoldau representatives to comment on the problem. However, they did not come to the meeting, although they were invited. According to Marzhikpayev, such a system creates problems for farmers and causes unnecessary tension, as such it needs to be finalized.

The last problematic issue raised at the event is the geopolitical situation. There are facts in the region, when due to problems with logistics farmers did not deliver seeds and spare parts for agricultural machinery. Akim noted that today there is an interdepartmental commission, which solves these problems. And farmers can always apply there.