The meeting addressed the issues of providing farmers with high-quality seeds, fuel and lubricants, agricultural equipment, diversification of areas of high-demand crops and subsidies.

Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov reported that at present all regions have begun spring field work, and sowing in the southern regions is almost complete. The total sown area is 22.3 million hectares, including spring sowing — 19 million hectares. Cereals will be placed on 14.5 million hectares. The needs of farmers for seeds is provided by 100%: about 2.5 million tons of seeds were piled for the this year’s crop, which is 100 thousand tons more than last year.

It was noted that in order to protect against pests and weeds, the necessary amounts of nutrients and preparations for treatment were acquired. To date, 267.1 thousand tons of fertilizers have been shipped, of which 60% are domestic producers.

In 2018, agricultural machinery was updated by 3.5%. In general, 147 thousand tractors, 4 thousand units of high-performance sowing sets are involved in the work.

As part of government support measures, 1,770 agricultural producers were financed for 50.6 billion tenge.

In turn, the Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev reported on the progress in providing farmers with fuel and lubricants. For carrying out spring field work for the period March-June, 380 thousand tons of diesel fuel were allocated. Today, 81% of the volume of needs is shipped. The price for diesel fuel set by the Ministry of Energy is 160 tg / liter (193 thousand tg / ton), taking into account the delivery of operators, the average price in the regions is 174 tg / liter, which is 18 tg cheaper than the market.

The reports of akims of Turkestan, Almaty, Zhambyl regions and northern regions – Akmola, Kostanay, North Kazakhstan regions were heard on the sowing campaign in the regions. All regions are provided with the necessary volume of seeds, equipment, there are no problems with the supply of fuel and lubricants.

Summing up the meeting, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin noted satisfactory rates of sowing campaign.

“Organization and completion of sowing in the optimal agrotechnical period is a key issue,” said Mamin.