Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Livestock projects with a combined herd of at least 100,000 animals will be developed in Karakalpakstan within a month, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev said at a meeting on the socio-economic development of the region in Nukus.
Mirziyoyev said Karakalpakstan has 4.3 million hectares of pasture, of which 2.5 million hectares are underused for increasing household incomes and livestock numbers.
According to the president, Beruniy Agrostar is restoring 2,000 hectares of unused land in Kungrad, Beruni and Chimbay districts to grow fodder crops. The company plans to develop another 5,000 hectares next year, he said.
Mirziyoyev said 5,000 sheep and goats would be brought in from Mongolia, Türkiye, China and Australia. Livestock breeders in Beruni district have also expressed readiness to bring in 5,000 head of cattle, provided that the conditions for compensating air transportation costs are eased.
The president said the cost of breeding bulls delivered by air would now be subsidized at 10%, but by no more than 4 million soums per head.
According to Mirziyoyev, more than 200 farmers, including 26 from Karakalpakstan, were sent to Egypt to study the country's experience. At the first stage, this experience will be introduced across 20,000 hectares in the region.
He also said a US$60 million loan and an US$8 million grant being attracted from the Asian Development Bank for livestock development would primarily be directed to this project.
Mirziyoyev supported a proposal to increase the volume of loans to 50 billion soums for establishing livestock complexes with herds of between 1,000 and 2,000 animals. He said 1 trillion 600 billion soums had already been allocated in May to increase livestock numbers.
