July 17 2008, 12:09

More than 20,000 ha of greenhouses to be constructed in two years in Kazakhstan

The construction of the greenhouse complexes of the total acreage of 20,900 ha is planned for two coming years on the territory of Kazakhstan. Anna Buts, the Director of Land Cultivation and Phyto-sanitary Safety of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan has provided this information today on the ministerial meeting, "Kazinform" journalist tells.

"We are intended to construct the greenhouse complexes by means of the investments of the social-entrepreneur corporations, JSC "Kazagro", and also the personal assets of the potential owners", the Chief of the Department informed.

According to information provided by "KazAgriMarketing", at the present moment 62 greenhouses of the working acreage of 48.8 ha are functioning in the Republic; they provide cities with just 4% of the demanded early vegetables. The low yield of vegetable crops is one of the reasons of such low percentage: at the present moment the yield is 3.5-25 kg/sq. meter.

In her report Mrs. Buts has pointed out that the donation of the early vegetables production in the greenhouses is provided now in the framework of the draft law "About the changes and amendments to some acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan regarding the food safety", developed by the Ministry.

During the ministerial meeting the speakers also have shared information that the need for the storage capacities is 684,200 tons at the present moment, if the demand of the city population for vegetables, fruits and potato, and also the national consumption norms are taken into account. According to "KazAgriMarketing" data, there are 291 premises of the total capacity of 358,700 tons for the storage of vegetables, fruits and potato for city population in the Republic.

There is information that the additional need for the vegetable storages is 290,600 tons with the account of 10 storages of the total capacity of 34,900 tons to be launched in 2008-2009. The Chief of the Department of the Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that the available vegetable storages do not meet the global standards; they are worn out and outdated.