TASHKENT, April 18. /“Dunyo” IA/. Yesterday, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with the presentation of proposals aimed at supporting food production industries, reports “Dunyo” IA correspondent.
According to the press service of the Head of state, measures are being taken in Uzbekistan to ensure the abundance and availability of basic foodstuffs. As a result of the opportunities created for farmers and entrepreneurs, the production of such products is increasing.
In particular, in 2022, 1.4 thousand livestock projects were implemented, the number of cattle reached 14 million, sheep and goats – 24 million. The number of poultry farms amounted to 1.3 thousand, egg production increased by 4 percent, meat – by 28 percent. 290 projects have been implemented in fish farming. 502,000 tons of fish have been harvested. 27 thousand tons of honey were produced.
At the same time, there are several problems in these sectors related to the lack of feed, land and working capital. In this regard, the opinions of representatives of the sphere were studied and proposals were developed.
At the meeting, the responsible persons presented information on the measures planned for the current year.
In particular, at the expense of grants from the International Fund for Agricultural Development, milk collection centers will be created in the regions. Each center will cooperate with at least 100 milk-producing households.
Clusters will build 64 livestock complexes. Livestock marking and identification activities are being launched with the involvement of World Bank funds.
The Fund for Reconstruction and Development will allocate $35 million to provide poultry farms with feed and working capital. The Parrandasanoat Association will monitor the effectiveness of the use of loans. An increase in the amount of subsidies for the import of breeding chickens is envisaged.
It is expected that as a result of these measures, poultry meat production will increase to 800 thousand tons per year.
Additional fish farming opportunities are also offered. In particular, from now on, natural reservoirs will be leased through an online auction. 241 sectoral projects will be implemented, including industrial shrimp farming. Within the framework of the state program “Every family entrepreneur”, it is planned to allocate loans without collateral for fish farming projects for up to 50 million UZS.
It was noted that due to this it will be possible to prepare 850 thousand tons of fish meat this year.
The Head of state noted that natural reservoirs and rivers should be used, in addition to fishing, as ecotourism centers that can attract local and foreign tourists.
The task was set to expand the work on the pollination of crops by bees. Measures have been defined to place beehives along the edges of 50,000 hectares of orchards and 200,000 hectares of fields, to create conditions and encourage the population to engage in beekeeping.
The President gave additional instructions to improve support measures.
