Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 5
By Rashid Shirinov – Trend:
The World Bank (WB) intends to allocate $500 million for the development of animal husbandry in Kazakhstan, Kazakh media quoted the WB Permanent Representative in Kazakhstan Ato Brown as saying in Astana.
He noted that it will be possible to use these funds over the next five years.
"It all depends on the potential and capacity of the state. We are not only ready to lend you money – we want to understand how to effectively use your available resources, to make sure that your subsidy system is effective for providing public services and implementing improvements," he said.
The World Bank is ready to finance the construction of modern slaughterhouses and provide technical support. The final amount of the loan, terms and purpose will be determined after discussing proposals from the Kazakh government.
Brown pointed out that it will be possible to talk in more detail about this when Kazakhstan puts forward its proposals for the required financial and technical support. In this case, the parties will talk in more detail about the design of support, about how the finance flow will go and how many cattle fattening sites will be built.
Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Agriculture Minister Umirzak Shukeyev, in turn, noted that the ministry intends to allocate funds in two directions — to finance 100,000 small farmers and the introduction of an additional one million hectares of irrigated land.
The minister added that financing small farmers implies the import of cattle.
"We provide loans for 15 years at 4 percent per annum primarily for the import of livestock. That is, we have to give money so that a small farmer can have commercial cattle, not breeding stock," Shukeyev said.