19.09.2024

On September 19, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with the presentation on the progress of reforms in agriculture.

Our country has set a course for full-scale realization of huge potential of agricultural sectors. In recent years, many areas such as cotton growing, horticulture, greenhouse farming, processing industry have been reformed in terms of increasing productivity and economic efficiency.

More than 1 million hectares of cotton is grown in 136 districts. In order to increase yields, 42 promising and 18 foreign varieties have been planted this year, in addition to traditional varieties. In particular, for the first time, varieties imported from China, India and Turkey are being grown on almost 100 thousand hectares.

Also, as an experiment, soaked seeds were sown on 112 thousand hectares and inter-regional and inter-district rotation of varieties was carried out on 200 thousand hectares.

The responsible persons presented information on the results of these innovations and plans for their further expansion next year. The Head of State emphasized the need to create a competitive environment when importing seeds from abroad and develop agro-techniques of cotton cultivation.

Yield in agriculture depends primarily on seeds. But many farmers, trying to save money on seed premiums, sow seeds of low reproductions. It takes 5 years to test a new seed variety and include it in the state register. In the best practice primary seed production is carried out by private elite farms.

In this regard, the introduction of a new system of variety testing has been determined. According to it, the state share in 31 elite seed farms and 6 seed procurement shops will be put up for public auction. Forty-six seed enterprises will be merged and 13 modern enterprises will be established in the regions. New seeds will be introduced into sowing after 2 years.

Another important direction in the industry is horticulture and viticulture. Our country has 266 thousand hectares of orchards and 132 thousand hectares of vineyards. But this does not correspond to the potential of our fertile land. There are many underutilized lands in the regions, especially adyrs.

Now, a new system of creating new orchards, including apple orchards, and vineyards on such lands will be introduced.

The Agency for Development of Agro-Industry will develop feasibility studies of projects based on the specialization of regions, soil and climatic conditions. Preferential loans will be allocated for land preparation, purchase of seedlings, installation of planting and irrigation systems, as well as for 3-year care of the orchard until it becomes fruitful. Newly created industrial gardens will be fully equipped with modern water-saving technologies.

The system of land allocation for such projects will also change. Local hokimiyats will submit proposals for the establishment of orchards in place of low-yielding lands. These lands will be leased on the basis of an open electronic tender for up to 30 years.

The President of our country emphasized the importance of expanding the creation of industrial-type orchards and vineyards.

- Our main goal is to develop agriculture based on science-based methods and best practices of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, - said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The presentation also touched upon the issues of efficient use of greenhouse farms, providing them with electricity, natural gas and working capital.

Water saving is an urgent task today. In the regions, 732 thousand hectares of cotton and grain fields are irrigated by internal pumping units. 41% of them have high energy consumption.

In this regard, it is proposed to establish a one-time subsidy for modernization of pumps at the disposal of cotton and grain producers. This will help reduce energy consumption and irrigation time by up to 60 percent, ultimately lowering the cost of production.

The Head of State approved these proposals and gave additional instructions for their improvement.