20.12.2021

On December 20, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on food security, including the development of one of the most important industries – the fish breeding. The enhancing of the effectiveness in fish production based on the cooperation was also discussed.

At the beginning of the meeting, the President has pointed to the ongoing current problematic issues in the sphere of food security, despite the solution of financial issues and creation of all opportunities to ensure food supply to the population. It was indicated that the issues of eliminating the drawbacks, forming sufficient supplies of food in a given territory and stabilizing the prices must be in the focus of attention of the khokims (governors and mayors) of all levels.

Over the past five years, as a result of the implementation of 1,016 projects for amount of 2,2 trillion soums in the fish industry of the country, the amount of fish production has increased six-fold and will reach 400 thousand tons this year. Compared to 2016, the fish consumption increased to 5,7 times.

The global rise in food prices, inflation risks clearly indicate that food security will remain the most urgent issue in the next year. Therefore, regional khokims should analyze the state of fish farming in their regions and work systematically to create all conditions for entrepreneurs and households,- the President stated. It was noted at the meeting that these indicators are insufficient, the available opportunities are not used in their entirety.

Thus, the productivity of fish farming is only 3-4 tons per hectare in Navoi, Namangan, Syrdarya, Ferghana and Tashkent Regions. This can be explained by the fact that the amount of intensive fish farming in these regions does not exceed 10% of the total production.

In this regard, the issues of intensification of artificial reservoirs, development of clusters and cooperation in the industry were considered. The task is determined to bring fish production up to 600 thousand tons next year.

For this purpose, the intensive fish farming, which is based on the experience of Sharaf Rashidov District will be launched at 10 thousand households next year. The clusters breeding more than 80 tons of fish per year on the basis of cooperation will be exempted from taxes for three years. And the clusters that attracted foreign specialists will be compensated for part of their expenses.

The number of credits provided by the domestic fish farmers under the program «Every family is an entrepreneur» will be doubled, and next year 400 billion soums and 20 million dollars will be invested for this purpose.

The rate of land tax and property tax for owners of households engaged in fish farming will be reduced by 50% and they will be transferred to the category of self-employed.

It was instructed to conduct an experiment in Yangiyul and Kuyichirchik districts to train the population in fish farming and introduce its results in Navoi, Syrdarya and Ferghana Regions starting from June 1 next year.

Also, it is planned to spend 20 million euros on large fish farming projects.

The need to enhance the productivity of 21 thousand hectares of low-yield artificial reservoirs and to stock 190 thousand tons of additional fish was emphasized. For this purpose, it was directed to equip 2,2 thousand farms with 50 thousand aerators.

The responsible officials have been instructed to use these opportunities to increase the number of new projects and increase production in order to enable job creation and enrichment of domestic market with fish products.

The heads of the industry and regions reported on the work done in the fishing industry and announced the plans for 2022.