The tasks in the agricultural sector discussed

On October 18, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting on the expected end-of-year results in the agricultural sector and tasks for the next year.

Three years ago, Uzbekistan adopted the agricultural development strategy for 2020-2030 and launched large-scale reforms. In particular, the export of fruits and vegetables increased by 1.7 times and amounted to $1.1 billion. As a result of the transition to market mechanisms in grain farming, the incomes of farmers increased by 2 times. This year, more than 1 million tons of food products have been grown due to the distribution of land to the population.

Due to climate change and the difficult situation in the world, food security is becoming a serious problem. It is expected that the prices of agricultural products in the world will grow. In such a situation, first of all, it is necessary to meet the demand of the population and make full use of export opportunities.

At the meeting, the Minister of Agriculture reported on plans in this direction.

The Head of the state outlined the current tasks in the sphere.

“There is a reason why we pay special attention and often discuss agricultural issues. Since it makes up a quarter of our economy. The well-being of our people, price stability, jobs are connected with it”, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

The issue of increasing yields due to the effective use of land and water resources was considered. The importance of helping farmers determine the soil composition, choosing seeds, and protecting crops from pests was noted.

The proposal to conduct laser leveling of 200 thousand hectares of land has been approved in this regard. Subsidies will be allocated for the lands on which the yield has grown, and farmers’ expenses for the purchase of laser levelers will be compensated.

The task was set to launch projects of effective water resources management in the regions together with foreign companies.

Along with land and water, financing is among the most important resources of agriculture. In this regard, the need for expanding farmers’ access to financial resources, simplifying the obtaining of loans and subsidies was noted at the meeting.

Another important area is the deep processing of fruits and vegetables. But so far the indicators in this direction are low. Only 20 percent of orchards and vineyards, and 7 percent of vegetable fields have implemented intensive methods.

Therefore, 2 thousand 163 projects have been formed for implementation in the food industry. As a result of their implementation, imports of 25 types of food products will be reduced, exports will expand. More than 37 thousand people will be employed.

The Head of the state noted that the added value in the sphere can be easily increased by 3-4 times due to the deep processing of fruit and vegetable products. Instructions were given to organize specialized food industry parks in Mirzaabad, Denau, Parkent, Urtachirchiq, Urgench and Kuva districts.

The President discussed the issue of agriculture digitalization.

“Without digitalization, there will be no real statistics in the sphere. And without reliable information, agricultural services will not develop, farmers will not know when and what to plant, which gives more income. Therefore, this process needs to be accelerated”, Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted.

The task was set to complete 3 projects by the end of this year, and next year – 4 projects, to fully digitalize land accounting, allocation of subsidies, monitoring of acreage.

In general, the goal is to create 600,000 permanent jobs in the industry and increase exports to $2 billion next year.