Sunflower sowing in Kazakhstan to increase to 1.4 mln ha

The area under oilseed crops in Kazakhstan will increase to 3.3 million hectares in 2025. In particular, sunflower crops will be expanded by 121.2 thousand hectares, which will bring their area to 1.4 million hectares. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin.

The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that, as part of the task of doubling the volume of gross agricultural output, work is underway to diversify the structure of crop areas. The main attention is paid to optimizing the areas occupied by monoculture (wheat) and water-intensive crops (rice, cotton), as well as expanding the sowing of highly profitable crops: oilseeds, vegetables, melons, forage crops and others.

Comprehensive government support measures are being applied to encourage farmers to diversify. Farmers are provided with subsidies for the purchase of seeds, mineral fertilizers, plant protection products, and subsidies are provided for the volumes of products submitted for processing. In addition, investment support is provided for the purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment.

“In 2024, 2.6 billion tenge was allocated for subsidizing oilseed crops. Akmola region – 400 million tenge, Zhambyl – 347 million tenge, Zhetysu – 262.5 million tenge, West Kazakhstan – 507.6 million tenge, Kostanay – 1 billion 142.3 million tenge,” Serik Zhumangarin specified.

Responding to a question about farmers’ access to grain storage facilities, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that, in general, storage capacities make it possible to fully accommodate last year’s harvest and carry-overs.

“At the same time, the geographical distribution of large storage facilities does not always meet the needs of small agricultural producers, who have to bear significant transportation costs to store relatively small volumes. In this regard, the urgent task is to create small storage facilities located near production sites,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

He noted that investment subsidies are provided for the construction and reconstruction of storage facilities, including facilities for oilseeds, with a full technological cycle: reception, processing, cleaning, drying, storage and shipment. Current regulations provide for subsidies of up to 25% of the costs of building or expanding such facilities.

In addition, government support measures include preferential loans to replenish working capital, a 70% VAT exemption on product sales. If necessary, volumes of fuel and lubricants are allocated for drying units, and up to 30% of the costs of purchasing mobile dryers are compensated.

“Implementation of the above measures will significantly reduce the logistics costs of farmers and provide the necessary infrastructure for storing agricultural products,” concluded Serik Zhumangarin.

Tags: Kazakhstan, sunseed