BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 9. Kazakhstan has enough wheat to supply the domestic market, Azat Sultanov, director of the department for production and processing of crop products of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, said, Trend reports via Kazakh media.
According to Sultanov, it is still too early to forecast the harvest for 2023, seeing as the sowing complain in the country has not started yet.
“After the sowing is done, the crop prediction will be based on the seedlings. But in general, we have enough production of grain crops, in particular, wheat, to provide for the domestic market. We will definitely not be left without grain,” Sultanov said.
Meanwhile, the Vice Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, Tamabek Abulkhair, said that the sewing area this year was estimated at 23.4 million hectares, which is by 68,600 hectares more than in 2022.
This year, Kazakhstan also plans to increase the sown areas for grain and leguminous crops by 117,000 hectares, the area of fodder crops - by 36,500 hectares and the area of sugar beet by 6,700 hectares.
According to the FAO, Kazakhstan is expected to produce around 13.6 million tons of wheat before the end of 2023.
Kazakhstan’s estimated wheat production reached 13.7 million tons in 2022, which is an increase of 16.1 percent, compared to 11.8 million tons in 2021.