What worries farmers in the system of state support, which was developed by the Ministry of Agriculture?

New rules for subsidies in crop and livestock production were discussed at the meeting of the Committee of agriculture of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken", chaired by Ivan Sauer. The discussion was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE Nurzhan Altaev, First Vice-Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Kairat Aituganov, directors of relevant departments of the Ministry of Agriculture, other representatives of agencies, industry associations of the AIC Committee and domestic agricultural producers.

After hearing the Director on the main approaches and changes in the wording of the proposed rules, the deputy chairman of the Board of NCE Nurzhan Altaev said that NCE has already discussed the new rules in the regions and with associations. He voiced the main grouped systemic issues that NCE RK accumulates.

"The first thing that disturbs business, it is large enough authority delegated to local executive bodies. Experience shows that there are serious imbalances in this regard in the regions. For example, Akimats by unclear reasons subsidize production in regions where it is impractical to produce it, that is not taken into account the specialization of regions. And subsidies come from the state budget within the framework of transfers of general character, thereby dragging the missing subsidies. We fear that the money will be used inefficiently", - expressed his opinion Nurzhan Altaev.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE also drew attention to the fact that, despite the expansion of the circle of recipients of subsidies, there is a downside: the budget for subsidies is not increased. "In previous years we did not have enough subsidies, and if we expand the list of recipients, will it not be formally just on paper? That is like you have to get these subsidies, but there is no money. We need to define clearly who can receive subsidies", - he said.

Altaev has focused on one more point. "We understand that the program (the state program of development of agrarian and industrial complex) had to be adopted quickly, as the year was ending, and farmers did not have time to get help in the form of grants. It was adopted with our participation, there are no question for it. But with these rules, I think, we shouldn’t rush. There are a lot of technical issues that need to be thoroughly discussed", - said the representative of NCE.

Chairman of AIC Committee Ivan Sauer, in turn, drew attention to the excessive bureaucratization of the new rules. "Now there is a big flurry of indignation in my address as I am the chairman of the Agribusiness Committee of the producers. Now, in order to obtain subsidies, Meat Union should endorse these lists. How many members are there in the Meat Union? After all, there are thousands of participants of subsidies. Who will process this in the regions? What a bureaucracy? Instead of reducing administrative barriers, we create them even more. We are against such innovations", - he said. First Deputy Agriculture Minister Kairat Aituganov with understanding reacted to comments recalling that this is a draft version of the rules, which will vary. "We also support the opinion that there is a lot of bureaucracy. It was a draft of the rules, we will adjust the rules, taking your remarks into consideration. We also see that very much was given to akimats, and that does not always work the way it was planned by the Ministry. But there is a certain division of powers, we can’t fail to adhere to", - he said.

The representative of LLP "KazAzot" expressed consolidated opinion of the domestic fertilizer producers about to what will bring the cancelation of the priority subsidies for the Kazakhstani enterprises.

“We believe that this will have a negative impact on the further development and, in general, the stability of our business, as the program of subsidizing fertilizers and herbicides - this is a cumulative measure of state support, which has a positive effect both on the agrarians and the domestic production. Statistics of recent years demonstrates the great resurgence of interest to agricultural chemistry. There are a lot of new companies and, on average, in small businesses, which produce fertilizers. This program was the stimulus for the development of our industry. Give these subsidies to support us, and on our part we promise quality and timely supply of these fertilizers at agreed prices", - she said.

Vice-Minister, in turn, voiced the other side of the issue. "You have to work on the competitiveness of the domestic market, as there are complaints from producers in the annual price increase. There are farmers’ request that we line the prices. Work in the competition. We, the Ministry of Agriculture, should, first of all, support local farmers", - said Aituganov.

During the meeting, representatives from various sectors of agriculture businesses have expressed a large number of proposals and comments to the draft regulations, all were heard. Farmers have received answers to many questions. Following the meeting, it was decided to consolidate all the views of industry associations at NCE "Atameken" and to send them to the Ministry of Agriculture.