Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16
By Rashid Shirinov – Trend:
The US company Baumgartner Agriculture Science and Service (BASS) and Kazakh Kusto Group will create a joint venture in Kazakhstan to produce seeds of forage crops using advanced technologies, Kazakh media reported.
The memorandum of intent on the creation of the KAZSEED enterprise was signed by Yerkin Tatishev, Kusto Group Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Edward Joseph Baumgartner, owner and Director General of BASS.
The main task of KAZSEED is to provide Kazakh farmers with quality seeds adapted to the climatic conditions of the country. In the first year, investments in the enterprise will be about $25 million, and in the future they will increase.
Umirzak Shukeyev, Agriculture Minister of Kazakhstan, noted that the production of high-quality seeds will affect crop yields and will be the basis for the growth of feed production in the country. Also, the use of high-quality seeds by Kazakh farmers may significantly reduce the costs of farmers and increase the profitability of crop production.
It is worth noting that as part of the State Program of Agroindustrial Complex Development for 2017-2021, from next year Kazakh farmers will be able to receive seeds of main crops in the spring for free, and in return, after harvest, they will have to transfer 30 percent of the cost of the seeds received to the special seed development fund.
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