Agriculture is back on the agenda. This week, Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Industry and Land Reclamation Tilek Toktogaziyev shared plans and tasks to be solved in the coming years.
In particular, the minister drew attention to the fact that farmers, producers and suppliers in Kyrgyzstan need to unite and create an association to compete in the global market.
According to him, currently the ministry is working on 3 directions:
1. Consolidation of farmers, producers and suppliers.
"This association has priority because many of our farmers alone will not be able to realize their potential in the global market. Domestic farmers have great potential to become a "hub" of high-quality halal products, but this can be achieved only by uniting," he said.
2. Digitalization.
"As of today, we are introducing electronic document management in the ministry to provide accurate and timely information to farmers. Work is also underway to create an information system to provide agricultural services to citizens," explained the minister.
З. The final direction, he said, is recycling.
According to agricultural expert Yuri Kurinsky, "the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture offers new ways of agricultural development is a welcome fact. It is important that all identified plans are implemented. Aims and objectives, which are set in any region or sphere, show the effectiveness of the authorities. There are quite a lot of urgent problems in agriculture. There is need to operate in parallel, to set new tasks, as well as to show at once the ways of their solution, and certainly to deal with the problems. As for digitalization, agriculture can also be brought to a new level, like the Western advanced agricultural powers. It is necessary to analyze, maybe even adopt a foreign approach in the application of digital and intelligent technologies in the agricultural sector of Kyrgyzstan.
The number of processing plants should also be increased. Farmers are constantly complaining about the lack of capacity. Often in the autumn, when the majority of farms are busy harvesting sugar beet, they face great congestion at Kainda Sugar Refining Mill. It is necessary to revive once-operating sugar factories all over the country. As for the bet on the so-called "halal industry", it is also a complicated issue. In my opinion, the Ministry of Agriculture needs to establish other tools to improve the production of popular crops for now. No need to set the tone for the previously unexplored areas at once. As for cluster approach, there are great doubts that farmers, especially the leading ones, will want to become engine for the lagging behind. I constantly talk with farmers, and many are against such associations. Firstly, there are no specific conditions for the creation of clusters - since there are no government programs for ordering various agricultural products. It takes years to create mechanisms of interaction, and most importantly, to establish a legal and regulatory framework so that these programs are brought to perfection and no one would be on losing side”.
The cluster approach is a system of state and public measures and mechanisms to support clusters and cluster initiatives that ensure an increase in the competitiveness of regions, enterprises belonging to a cluster, the development of institutions that stimulate the formation of clusters, as well as ensure the introduction of innovations.
Minister Tilek Toktogaziyev noted a cluster approach is currently used for the development of the agricultural industry. He said that the advantage of the cluster approach is that it is possible to soberly assess the advantages and disadvantages of products. "The cluster approach is necessary for detailed analysis and work to improve domestic exports," he said.
This approach and this area are very promising in the future, but right now the Agriculture Ministry must face different and more complex tasks.
If we talk about other directions in the development of domestic agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture of the republic signed an Agreement on cooperation with Kyrgyz Stock Exchange CJSC in order to support farmers and provide opportunities for products to enter the world markets.
"This is exactly what will help to push Kyrgyz farmers to become even more active. Kyrgyzstani farmers will have to understand that agriculture is not just about fields. They need to develop a new type of thinking and go beyond the usual foundations. It is now possible to trade their products on a new platform. I hope that Kyrgyz farmers will learn new ways of developing their own industry as soon as possible. This will be a boon for both agricultural producers and the government," the expert said.
Note that the Agreement provides creation a list of exchange commodities, assist domestic producers to enter the commodity markets of EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) member states, and identify promising directions.
"An important advantage for the farmers of the republic is access to world markets and the opportunity to trade not only goods but also futures (goods with future delivery). At the same time, each futures contract at the commodity exchange is both a purchase for one side and a sale for the other side. In addition, large customers can find the necessary volumes and be insured against price volatility through hedging (insurance, guarantee),” the report says.
In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture indicated that one of the advantages of exchange transactions is that they do not require notarization.
"Trade operations at the stock exchange are carried out through electronic trading system in real time. Trading can be managed through the Internet from anywhere in the world. Participants of electronic exchange trades can be individuals and legal entities, residents and non-residents of the Kyrgyz Republic. All operations at the exchange are carried out by participants through traders," the message reads.
It is specified that registration and accreditation at the exchange are free of charge.
During the signing of the Agreement, President of the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange Medet Nazaraliyev noted that thanks to the document, Kyrgyz farmers will be able to show profitable tools, convenience and advantages of the commodity exchange, which is designed to form an organized commodity market and improve the efficiency of domestic and foreign trade turnover in Kyrgyzstan.
Minister Toktogaziyev supported the importance of developing electronic exchange trading and assured the ministry will actively participate in assisting farmers to enter the world markets.
"An important task of the ministry is to provide state support to farmers and create convenient conditions, and it is necessary to use various tools - one of them is the commodity exchange. All over the world, stock exchanges are the main platform for the sale of agricultural products and it is time for us to master this mechanism," he said.
The world market of agricultural products occupies the lion's share (55%) of the volume of all exchange trade. Corn, sugar, wheat are most often put up for sale.
Kabar News Agency
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