The Ministry of Agriculture should support small business more

According to the President, the system of state support is focused primarily on the service of large structures, according to the principle "friends get everything, while the rest - by the law". The same situation is in the agrarian sector. What can we do to change it? The World of NAN journalist tried to answer this and other questions.

The instrument of state support in the form of subsidies became a trough for a small circle of people a long time ago. Large farmers " gobble up" most of the subsidies and continue to enrich themselves while small and medium-sized farmers struggle to survive. The system is so rotten that some farmers are not even aware of the existence of subsidies. Today the Ministry of Agriculture is working on a new mechanism, but will it solve the problem? Will the money reach small and medium businesses?

Radical measures are unnecessary, Yerbol Yeseneyev, director of the Agro-Industrial Complex and Food Industry Department at NCE Atameken, said. "The principle - take away from big business and give to small business, must not be the way forward. I'm talking about agriculture in particular. We need to look at this situation from a different angle. Subsidies are created to stimulate the growth of production. Therefore, there should not be a division between large and small. Efficiency should be the key factor. For instance, in Almaty region there are dairy farms with 50 cows and they are efficient as well", said Yerbol Yeseneyev.

The conclusion is quite logical. By stimulating efficient farmers, the state will have a more sustainable agricultural sector. But how will you measure efficiency? Who will give an objective assessment? We can rely on production reports, but this would mean excessive bureaucracy and red tape that no one will want to go into. The question remains open. And if the Ministry of Agriculture answers it and introduces such a system, the future will be brighter for it.

If we think in simple terms, the principle of taking from the rich and giving to the poor seems the easiest, and even noblest, like in the ballads about Robin Hood. Why do big farms need more money? They are on solid footing and have their own working capital. And if they don't, it means they are inefficient. Maybe it is a matter of simple greed? French philosopher Paul Boist said, "The heart of the greedy is an ocean that thirsts for rain. That is the truth. So, even with all they have, large farmers will defend their position in receiving state support, and I assure you - they will defend it. Of course, we should not take away all subsidies. Keeping investment subsidies is enough, so they may expand and continue working, but all the same, it is necessary to curb their appetite.

Having seen enough of the well-fed oligarchs, Tokayev ordered to pay attention to small and medium businesses. But why? Big farmers produce more and the quality of their goods is much higher. So it would seem. But experts say that the Kazakhs are mostly being fed by small and medium-sized farms. Not to mention private farms. As such the President is giving the right direction. However, the task to develop small and medium enterprises has been put forward to the government for many years, but there were no radical changes. What is the reason for this? I think you know why. Our country's " bribe-taking system" has become the main source of income for officials. Who wants to lose money? No one. And that' s the result. And it is more convenient, why collect taxes from the small, when you can just charge the big one once. Let us hope this year politicians will reconsider their priorities and start thinking not only about themselves.

To make it easier for them, representative of National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Yerbol Yeseneyev voiced the measures necessary for farmers: "At the moment the first priority was given to provision of personnel. Never has this issue been so acute. So the state should pay special attention to training of personnel in agro-industrial sector. The second is access to finance. Farmers need unsecured loans with low interest rates. The third is access to resources: land, market, machinery, etc."

These are the simple requests that farmers are literally screaming for from every corner. There, in the Cabinet of Ministers, everyone knows everything. There are a lot of programs to support business today, but the President said in his recent address: "Big companies use the access to high offices to get privileged conditions to implement their projects. These projects divert state resources which could have been used to develop small and medium enterprises". How to deal with this situation?

The answer lies on the surface: separate development programs must be created for small and medium businesses. In particular, the Ministry of Agriculture could work out a development program which would make part of the subsidies available only to small and medium-sized farms. This would not only keep big businessmen away from allocated money, but also provide accurate guidelines for the development of farmers. The agriculture department should also think about a separate program for beginning farmers. Such programs do exist abroad and have proven to be effective.

Or increased support can be given to new farms, because starting a business in the agro-industrial complex is very difficult. And there could be a lot of ideas like these. The most important is for the Ministry of Agriculture to begin to focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.