Baku, Azerbaijan, March 27
By Fakhri Vakilov – Trend:
For two months of 2019, Uzbekistan imported ready-made pet food for $ 26.4 million with a growth of 58.6 percent to the corresponding level of last year, Trend reports with reference to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.
Moreover, as follows from the official statistics, the ready-made feeds for animals and birds worth $132.5 million were brought into the country in 2018. This figure is 55 percent higher than in 2017.
In January-December 2018, all categories of livestock farms in the country produced 2,417,400 tons of meat in live weight (5.7 percent more than in January-December 2017). As of January 1, 2019, the total cattle population reached 12,726,600 heads.
A simple arithmetic operation shows that last year, an average of 72 kilograms of meat was produced per capita in the country. As analysis shows, 76 percent of meat consumed was beef.
Another indicator is the number of cattle per capita (cpc) which 0.38 cpc per person. In other words, there is one animal for three citizens. The average price per kilogram of beef in the country ranges from 45,000 to 50,000 soums (up to $6) and has a steady upward trend. International foreign agencies information shows that this indicator exceeds the price of meat both in the world and in the Commonwealth countries.
Statistical analysts note that the main reason for the rise in prices for meat products in the country is the increase in costs when keeping cattle, including due to the rise in prices for food supply with a significant population demand for meat products.
About 94 percent of cattle are kept in the private farms of the peasants. Approximately 5 percent of cattle are held by farmers, the share of agricultural enterprises is 1.5 percent. The country is sorely lacking in the factories of cheap beef and their automated and mechanized production processes.
As for the breeding core, until recently it was concentrated mainly in the sub-reserves of large state industrial enterprises - Navoi MMC, Almalyk MMC, at large power stations, etc. In recent years, these structures have been increasingly reducing social ballast.
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