TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, February 16. Uzbekistan will provide credit resources worth 1 trillion soums ($81 million) for land development and cooperation between farmers and businesses, Trend reports.
This was announced at a meeting on utilizing new reserves and priorities in agriculture for 2024 organized by Uzbekistan's president Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Of this amount, loans without collateral (up to 100 million soums or $8,101) or under reduced collateral (up to 150 million soums or $12,152) will be allocated.
Furthermore, the president of the country instructed the complete digitalization of 1.8 million hectares of land occupied by orchards, vineyards, greenhouses, vegetable, melon, and fodder crops. The placement of crops, control of yields, and use of fertilizers for them will be conducted on the "Agroplatform.".
The population was instructed to allocate another 60,000 hectares of land to increase the volume of grown products by 1.5 million tons and export revenue by $200 million. The importance of training young people in farming and ensuring their employment in the new areas was noted.
Farmers and dekhkan farms (small-scale family farms) will be provided with 10,000 units of agricultural machinery on lease for a ten-year term. Privileges for imported mini-tractors and motorized cultivators will be extended for another three years.
The president was also instructed to revise the crediting of greenhouse farms. Loans up to 100 million soums ($8,101) under the family entrepreneurship program will be allocated for the construction of greenhouses that do not require fuel for heating.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan plans to allocate a preferential loan of 1 trillion soums ($81 million) to provide livestock farms with working capital.
In addition, the country intends to increase the size of the unsecured loan for fish farming to 100 million soums ($8,101) under the family entrepreneurship program.