Driven to despair: farmers have written a letter to the Prime Minister

Over one hundred farmers who farm over one million hectares of cultivated area have joined the appeal to the head of government, World of NAN reports.

The farmers are concerned about the current state of affairs in the provision of subsidies and leasing for imported agricultural machinery. For instance, subsidy on imported machinery is being removed completely while the leasing rate is being increased from 6% to 15%.

"We use high-performance machinery due to a number of indisputable advantages: one unit of foreign machinery replaces 2-3 units of tractors or combines of domestic analogs, durability and high productivity.

In addition, powerful machinery is able to process more land per unit of time compared to domestic machinery, which makes it a more effective tool in our work," the farmers wrote.

Agrarians are concerned about this policy. State bodies simply do not leave them an independent choice of types and models of agricultural machinery. The introduced changes in the rules of subsidizing and leasing will create such conditions that they simply will not be able to buy imported machinery. It will also affect the end consumer.

"We believe that such measures will only lead to an increase in food prices, as low-efficient machinery increases the cost of production. This will negatively affect the citizens of Kazakhstan, as they will be forced to pay more for socially important food products," the farmers wrote.

Farmers ask the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov to instruct the Ministry of Agriculture to reconsider the decision to cancel subsidies and increase the leasing rate for imported agricultural machinery.

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