OREANDA-NEWS. August 19, 2013. The Government of Kazakhstan held a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov to discuss the development of agriculture, implementation of Agribusiness 2020 Program, activity of SECs in the field of agriculture.

Serik Akhmetov emphasized that the Program on Agro-Industrial Complex Development for 2013-2020, which was adopted in February 2013, envisaged unprecedented measures on the support of agriculture.

Minister of Agriculture Assylzhan Mamytbekov delivered a keynote speech on the situation in this economy sector, implementation of Agribusiness 2020 Program, measures on the development of agricultural processing. According to him, the overall agricultural output has a positive growth trend. So, for the past 12 years, the volume of gross output increased almost 4 times and totaled 1.9 trillion tenge in 2012. During this period crop production increased threefold (from 325.7 billion to 981.2 billion tenge), livestock production grew almost 5 times (from 207.9 billion to 1.0 trillion tenge). In 2012 the proportion of livestock production has exceeded the proportion of crop production and made 50.6%.

The Minister informed of the measures to raise public awareness of the mechanisms of public support for agricultural subjects. He said that the proposals on the adjustment of strategic policy documents for the development of industries related to agriculture, master plans, maps of regional specialization in the production of agricultural products were developed.

Governor of Kostanay region N.Sadvakasov, Governor of South Kazakhstan region A.Myrzakhmetov, Chairman of KazAgro Holding D.Aitzhanov, President of "Vostok Moloko" Corporation S.Sailaubayev, head of the public association "Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan" A.Darinov spoke on the theme of the meeting as well.

Summing up the discussion, the Prime Minister said that "with the adoption of the program we can expect fairly good results." In this regard he instructed the Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with the concerned authorities to organize operational coordination of normative legal acts necessary for the implementation of the new mechanisms of the program; to approve the master plans for the development of agriculture sector: especially in crop production, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine. Also, it is needed to approve a comprehensive plan with appropriate financing.

First Deputy Prime Minister B.Sagintayev was charged to coordinate the activities of all government agencies concerned.

First Deputy Minister of Regional Development Kairbek Uskenbayev told about the implementation of the President’s instructions on the participation of SECs in the development of agriculture. Akhmetov noted the importance of maximizing the opportunities of SECs for rural development, especially in the processing of agricultural products and the creation of service-procurement centers. "These are the good tools of the development institution in the regions," the head of the Government said.

Noting that the concept of SECs development envisaged their gradual withdrawal from those programs where they suffer losses, Akhmetov instructed the governors to make proposals to the Government to ensure the break-even level of the SECs activity. He also instructed the Ministry of Regional Development and Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with governors to specify the role and functions of the SECs in support of projects of agribusiness within the framework of the strategies for the development of SECs.

According to Prime Minister Akhmetov, the first regional forum in Ust-Kamenogorsk noted the role of SECs in inter-regional cooperation. "This work should continue with new projects in agriculture," he said. The Premier also urged to consider issues of SECs participation in attracting investors with the purpose of establishing processing facilities.