BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 30
By Amina Nazarli – Trend:
Agriculture remained one of Turkmenistan's fastest growing non-oil sectors this year. The country has made considerable progress in expanding its agriculture industry since the beginning of 2021.
State initiatives
This year, a great deal of effort was made in the construction of greenhouses, which play a significant role in Turkmenistan's food security. The country’s private agricultural producers supply a wide range of fruits and vegetables to domestic and international markets. Only in March, 6 greenhouses with a total size of 35 hectares were opened in Turkmenistan. Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan's Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs aimed to build 175 new high-tech greenhouses across the country covering a total of 600 hectares of land by the end of the year, in addition to operating more than 100 greenhouses covering a total area of 450 hectares already in operation.
Another initiative aimed to aid in the development of the agriculture sector for was made by Turkmenistan’s Daýhanbank State Commercial Bank. The Bank provided a special Dahan Karzy loan to encourage local residents to participate in the agricultural industry and help it expand. Those engaged in cotton, wheat, rice, and sugar beet production in the country are eligible for a one-year loan of 10,000 Turkmen manat ($2,862).
Turkmenistan was also engaged in expanding cotton industry. In 2021, the country planned to purchase 145,557 tons of cotton fiber, 8,500 tons of fine-fiber cotton, 200 tons of short-fiber cotton and 200 tons of cotton wool. The country also conducts scientific work on the development of new varieties of cotton.
International Projects
Cooperation Framework for 2021–2025: Earlier in December, Turkmenistan and FAO signed the Country Programming Framework. In accordance with the agreement, Turkmenistan is committed to modernizing and improving the agricultural sector in order to meet national demands while also addressing global concerns. As a result, FAO will support Turkmenistan in three areas such as collecting and analyzing data related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); contributing to a more productive, effective, and digital agriculture sector with an increased export potential; as well as helping disaster prevention and response, as well as sustainable management of natural resources. The project is being carried out from 2021 to 2025.
Reducing food loss and waste in Central Asia and the Caucasus: In September Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan came together to explore new solutions to food loss and waste. The project's goal is to assist Turkmenistan and other participating countries in establishing and implementing national strategies and action plans to decrease food loss and waste by merging policy and technical components and targeting all subsectors of the food system, from producers to consumers. Furthermore, the project aims to stimulate subregional dialogue, activate public and private actors, and facilitate action to combat food loss and waste. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu stated the world needs to accelerate progress in achieving the SDG target 12.3 by 2030 to halve global food waste and reduce food losses along production and supply chains.
Illustrative calendar: USAID also helps agricultural development in Turkmenistan. This summer, the Turkmen Ter Onum company, with the aid of USAID, created an illustrative harvest and marketing calendar for several agricultural crops. The calendar is intended to promote the export of Turkmen agricultural products. The calendar comprises information on the maturation dates of various crops, taking into consideration their cultivation in various regions of the country, as well as information on product storage, shipping, and quality control.
Telematic systems: Turkmenistan's economy is entering a fundamentally new stage as a result of digitization. In this context, Turkemnistan's agro-industry will benefit from telematic systems developed jointly by German CLAAS company.
CLAAS, a pioneer in the application of novel technologies, collaborates with the Ashgabat State Agricultural University. The German company has recently sold Turkmenistan machinery outfitted with various IT devices and information applications. CLAAS training and service center experts train teachers and students on active precision agriculture management using widely used navigation systems such as Global Positioning System (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), Earth remote sensing, Variable Rate Technology, and Yield Monitor Technologies.
Integrated natural resources management (INRM) in drought-prone and salt-affected agricultural production landscapes: The project's goal is to promote climate-smart agriculture practices and INRM technology for local communities in difficult environments such as deserts, mountains, and salinized places. The project gives local people with hands-on training in novel technology for controlling soil salinization during drought circumstances. The initiative will accomplish this through fostering multi-country collaboration, incorporating resilience into policy, legal, and institutional frameworks, establishing incentives for climate-smart agriculture, and scaling up such practices. The project started in 2017 and should be finished by 2022.
National Adaptation Plan by the Green Climate Fund: Back in May, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) accepted a $1.8 million project in Turkmenistan to construct a National Adaptation Plan and strengthen resilience in the water sector over the next three years, with a deadline of May 20, 2024. Droughts and rising temperatures are the two biggest threats to agricultural and forestry water supplies. The rivers of Turkmenistan are vital for irrigation and agricultural development. Drought is of severe concern to Turkmenistan, so the loss of grain production alone due to drought result in losses worth $20 billion, between 2016 and 2030.