Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 3
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Banks in the Andijan region of Uzbekistan suspended issuing preferential loans to farmers for raising livestock due to the price hike, Uzbek media reported referring to Head of the Department of Small Business Development and Private Entrepreneurship of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU) Aktam Sayfullaev.
According to Sayfullaev, 7,200 residents of the Andijan region received soft loans worth 150 billion soums ($19.2 million) at a rate of 7 percent for 3 years. Of these, 2,500 people decided to breed livestock.
“We observe such a trend that many people want to engage in livestock breeding. Many chose this activity and decided to take a loan for this purpose. Special working groups held conversations with the population, told about non-standard and innovative directions of entrepreneurship, but 50-60 percent came to the bank with desire to engage in livestock breeding. The banks could not refuse,” he said.
Special farms were to be organized within a month to adapt pedigree livestock, poultry and rabbits to the local conditions. Highly productive livestock breeds, adapted to the natural and climatic conditions of the region, had to be imported from abroad and bred for these farms.
“The fact that this activity hasn’t begun at large farms became known only during the process. There are five or six farms breeding cattle in Andijan. After mass sale of cattle to the population, the price of cattle began to grow. The maximum selling price was set at 24,000-25,000 soums per 1 kilogram of live weight of cattle. But because of the high demand, the sellers raised the price to 75,000-80,000 soums,” the representative of the CBU explained.
To stop further price hike, banks suspended issuing soft loans for livestock breeding.
"First, we must correctly organize the process of selling livestock to the population. We will be able to resume issuing loans when everything is fully organized,” Sayfullaev said.
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