Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 29 April, a video-conference was held under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the issues of guaranteed provision of the population with basic types of food and maintaining price stability during the pandemic.

In the world market, there has been a decline in prices for oil, cotton, gas, electricity, and growth in food products. Many countries have imposed restrictions on the export of flour, wheat, rice, oil, potatoes and other products.

In this regard, the most important issue today is to increase the procurement of agricultural products. In Uzbekistan, measures are being taken to grow 2-3 crops in irrigated areas and to reclaim land that has been taken out of circulation. Storage and production capacities are expanding.

The meeting addressed issues of increasing procurement and the formation of strategic reserves.

It was noted that the leadership of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, each region and district should have a clear picture of how the needs of the population will be provided for the period from 1 June 2020 to 1 June 2021.

Previously, specific opportunities were identified for increasing production, developing land that was out of circulation, reserves in horticulture and livestock. Now it is necessary to organize the appropriate work, to obtain products from other regions that are not enough, or to sell surpluses.

For example, in Dekhkanabad district, cotton is not grown, and grain is cultivated on a bogar. In the Chirakchi region, meadow lands with an area of more than 100 thousand hectares are not used effectively. In these areas, the organization of livestock production by the cooperative method based on the Karakalpakstan experience will give a good result.

To ensure food security, it is very important to expand the procurement of products that are not produced in sufficient quantities.

For example, in 2019, almost 60 thousand tons of rice were imported. 150 thousand tons of potatoes were imported from abroad, although there are plenty of areas for its cultivation in our country.

With this in mind, it was instructed to plant an additional 10 thousand hectares this year with rice, including 6 thousand hectares in Khorezm, 3 thousand hectares in Karakalpakstan and 1 thousand hectares in Syrdarya. The goal is to bring the area of potato fields to at least 50 thousand hectares and increase productivity by 2 times.

In the oil and fat industry, only 46 percent of capacities are used, and cotton seeds make up 90 percent of the raw materials used. In this regard, it was noted that it is necessary to secure 50 thousand hectares of land withdrawn from circulation by 22 large oil and fat enterprises, to establish the cultivation of soy, safflower, sunflower and other oilseeds, to increase production on their basis to 40 thousand tons.

This year, it is expected that wheat yields will increase by 20 percent, and 735 thousand tons of wheat of the new crop will remain at the disposal of farmers. This will increase the interest of farmers and provide the population with an adequate volume of grain and flour products.

Responsible persons are given instructions on the purchase of wheat at the market price, storage and processing of grain with the involvement of private processing enterprises.

Household lands have a large reserve for saturating the domestic market, and field agriculture is for export.

Two years ago, the Tomorka Hizmati system was organized, out of 244 enterprises of which 65 are already exporting products. However, in many places this service does not function well. In this regard, the need to improve the system, the allocation of sites for enterprises to harvest seedlings, the provision of machinery and equipment, was emphasized.

The Council of farms, dekhkan farms and owners of household plots has been given the task of organizing the construction of small-sized refrigerated storages in households with a capacity of 20-30 tons.

The meeting discussed issues of increasing industrial processing of agricultural products.

It was noted that the import volume of dairy products exceeded US$70 million, even mayonnaise, tomato paste, canned corn and green peas are imported, the production of which with a full cycle is possible in our country. The level of milk processing in Khorezm, Namangan, Surkhandarya regions does not reach 10 percent.

The company “Uzbekoziqovqatholding” was instructed to increase the volume of production of import-substituting products and export of goods based on fruit processing. The tasks are defined to bring the volume of fruits and vegetables that exceeded the domestic demand to the foreign market.

The coronavirus pandemic made it possible to identify mistakes made in many issues, including those related to the activities of dekhkan markets. In this regard, the need to revise existing standards, abolish the requirements of state presence in their activities and organize modern markets with the participation of the private sector was emphasized.

Serious shortcomings were found in the formation of strategic reserves. No reserves have been created for 5 types of products. And wheat stocks, on the contrary, are organized 5 times more than necessary.

The Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction was entrusted with a critical review of the nomenclature and volumes of strategic reserves, and the creation of a new reservation system.

On the issues discussed at the video conference, the reports of the heads of the agricultural sector and khokims were heard.