ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Oct. 21
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed a decree "On the approval of the volumes of the special agricultural land fund", Trend reports via Altyn Asyr TV channel.
In order to grow the crops included in the state order, a special agricultural land fund was created, from which plots for long-term use of private agricultural producers will be allocated.
Earlier, a decree “On further improvement of reforms in the agricultural sector” was signed.
The document made it possible to provide land plots from the created special agricultural land fund to joint stock companies of Turkmenistan, daikhan (peasant) farms, other legal entities and citizens (hereinafter referred to as producers) for use for up to 99 years.
For these purposes, it was planned to create at the expense of arable land a special agricultural land fund for growing wheat, cotton and other crops, subject to surrender to the state.
Plots from the special agricultural land fund will be provided to commodity producers on the terms of full implementation of the plan on contractual terms and must be planted with at least 70 percent wheat, cotton and other agricultural crops.
In accordance with the legislation of Turkmenistan, producers can keep grown surplus or surrender it to the state at government procurement prices.
The decree also provides for the creation of the necessary conditions for the construction of processing enterprises by manufacturers and the procurement of the products in the domestic and foreign markets. The document provides for the allocation of bank loans to producers for the purchase of agricultural equipment.
Moreover, work is underway in Turkmenistan to optimize the use of agricultural land.
The areas to be sown with wheat for next year's harvest will be reduced from 760,000 to 690,000 hectares. The volume of wheat harvested is planned to be reduced from 1.6 million this year to 1.4 million tons in the next. Land taken from winter grains will be used for cotton growing.
Next year, it is planned to harvest 1.25 million tons of cotton. For comparison, this figure was 1.5 million tons this year.