BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 23. Livestock production increased by 3.6 percent from January through May 2023 in Kazakhstan compared to the same period last year, the country's Minister of Agriculture Yerbol Karashukeyev said at a Government meeting, Trend reports.
According to him, the industry is progressing at stable rates, with consistent growth in the livestock population. Over 2022 alone, the number of cattle has grown by 4.2 percent, sheep by 4.8 percent, horses by 10.5 percent, camels by 6.5 percent, and poultry by 4 percent.
Alongside the increase in quantity, there has also been an improvement in the quality indicators of livestock development. Average milk yield in 2022 has risen by 4.7 percent, egg production has shown a growth of 17.2 percent.
As the minister said, livestock farming is one of the key sectors within the country's agro-industrial complex, accounting for approximately 40 percent of the gross agricultural output.
This year, the country's budget has allocated 100 billion Kazakh tenge ($222.7 million) for the implementation of large-scale investment projects, following the successful model of the North Kazakhstan region.
These projects aim to create 65 livestock farms with a total production capacity of 373,000 tons of milk per year. This initiative is expected to significantly reduce the country's dependence on imports, decreasing it from 39 percent to 11 percent.