BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 7
By Fakhri Vakilov-Trend:
Over the past year, Uzbekistan’s budget received $2.2 billion in profit from the sale of agricultural products, which is 12 percent more than the preceding year, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev stated in a congratulatory speech addressed to the country's farmers on the occasion of their professional holiday, Trend reports citing the president’s press service.
Next year, according to the president, the goal was set to increase the export of fruits and vegetables to $2.5 billion, and in the next three years to $5 billion. For this purpose, experimental technologies of Russia, China, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia are being introduced.
The head of state emphasized that despite various challenges due to global climate changes and environmental problems of the region, Uzbek farmers manage to achieve high harvest results thanks to their experience and scientific achievements.
"The most noticeable confirmation is that this year, thanks to your hard work, 7.1 million tons of grain, 2.8 million tons of cotton, 19,600 tons of cocoons, 21 million tons of fruits and vegetables, 400,000 tons of rice, 2,6 million tons of meat, 11 million tons of dairy products and 8.1 billion eggs were produced, " Mirziyoyev said.
According to the president, over the past four years, Uzbek farmers have managed to grow fruit, vegetable, and other food crops on 300,000 hectares of low-yielding cotton and grain fields, including intensive orchards on 32,000 hectares, vineyards on 15,000 hectares, vegetables on 114,000 hectares, legumes and oilseeds on 72,000 hectares, and forage crops on 52,000 hectares. In addition, modern greenhouses were built on 2,000 hectares/
As president noted, the most important achievement is that this year, 3.8 million tons of grain grown by the farmers remained at their disposal.
Further, as reported, over the past year, Uzbekistan was able to export 1.3 million tons of fruits and vegetables for $1.1 billion.
To ensure high-quality processing and delivery to the domestic and foreign markets of cultivated fruits and vegetables, $108.9 million was invested. As a result, 180 modern centers for processing, storage and logistics of fruits and vegetables with a capacity of 254,000 tons were built and over 54,000 new jobs were created.
Currently, 3.5 million tons of agricultural products are processed and finished products worth $350 million are exported from Uzbekistan.
Over a thousand large livestock breeding complexes for the production of meat and dairy products were put into operation. This year, 600 targeted projects for $126 million have been implemented.
Funds in the amount of $139.5 million were allocated from the state budget for the uninterrupted supply of cultivated areas with irrigation water this year, which is 1.8 times more than in 2018, and $67.7 million was allocated to improve the reclamation state of irrigated lands which is 1.2 times more compared to the last year.
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