Cattle breeders reached the peak of despair and resorted to the media

Livestock industry associations have been unable to get through to the Ministry of Agriculture and have turned to the media. Farmers say the industry's current subsidy cuts could cause meat to rise in price by as much as 30 percent, World of NAN reports.

New agricultural subsidy rules significantly reduce the amount of state support for livestock production. Participants of conference which was held today in the capital, especially asked to pay attention that Ministry of Agriculture of RK declares about elimination of only 3 points on subsidizing of meat cattle breeding, but actually there are 8 types of subsidies being abolished.

Executive director of the Kazakh Whitehead Chamber Bakhtiyar Utelbayev explained the consequences of the proposed measures, especially regarding the exclusion of subsidies for the lease of breeding steers.

"If we exclude subsidies for lease of breeding bulls by farms for breeding stock, then 34% of farms (of 21.6 thousand) will lose all subsidies at one time, destroy the mechanism of anchor cooperation, which the President instructed to develop. More than 15 thousand breeding bulls will be unclaimed. This means that the breeding stock will be used for slaughter," says the expert.

According to him, all 10 years spent on restoration of pedigree cattle breeding and increasing of specific weight of steers can be considered wasted, if we allow slaughtering of pedigree cattle.

"We want development, but not a single investor has entered the industry in recent years, because the risks are big. The subsidy rules have been changed 6! times in 4 years. While an investor is building a farm, the rules are already losing relevance. Livestock breeders want stability, to keep the old rules. Unfortunately, now, by proposing to reduce state support, we are one step away from stopping the development of the country's livestock breeding industry," Bakhtiyar Utelbayev said.

According to the farmers, there is also an imbalance in lending: according to the Republican Chambers, the Agrarian Credit Corporation only 15% or 56 billion from the direct funding of 360 billion tenge has sent for loans to livestock farmers. By comparison, 140 billion tg went to crediting spring field work, where 99% is wheat.

The programs of concessional lending to livestock farms "Sybagha" and "Altyn Asyk" were suspended, the program of financing of working capital was suspended. And after the launch of the Ministry of Agriculture system for payment of subsidies USISS "soft" loans farmers pay the full rate of up to 22%.

Farmers are also dissatisfied with the cancellation of subsidies for wagons - shepherd cabins, for pasture watering. Without the support of the state we can forget about the pasturelands at all, said the cattle breeders.

Meanwhile, the beef, which farmers provide to the market, is part of the socially important food basket. If the government does not solve the problem, cattle farmers will have to raise the price of their products. According to experts, the increase may amount to 15-30% for the end consumer. This will become an acute problem for all citizens of Kazakhstan.

Participants of the conference noted that they were forced to go to the media due to the lack of constructive dialogue with the industry ministry, which practically does not consider the proposed amendments and comments of the farmers themselves.

"The Ministry of Agriculture has no one to conduct a dialogue with, as for 1.5 years there is no Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry, for 9 months there is no supervising Vice-Minister, for a year there was no Chairman of the Veterinary Control and Supervision Committee. This is an indicator of treatment of the industry," said Dauren Salykov, Director of the Republican Chamber of Angus of Kazakhstan.

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