EU supports sustainable grazing and pasture management in Kazakhstan

ALMATY REGION. KAZINFORM On May 23, the kick-off conference to launch the EU-funded Project «JAYLYM ‒ Multi-actor partnerships and innovation at the service of economic and environmental sustainability of grazing activities in Enbekshi-Kazakh District» was held in the city of Esik of the Enbekshi-Kazakh District, the press and information team of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan reports.

The JAILYM Project aims to improve sustainability and efficiency in the use of pasture land and, overall, of grazing and livestock activities, in the target areas of Enbekshi-Kazakh district of Almaty region. The Project will provide training and technical support on how to better organise animal husbandry, on the risks caused by climate change and on how to adapt to them. Moreover, the Project aims to establish five Unions of Pasture Users in five pilot rural okrugs (Akshisky, Asinsky, Karazhotinsky, Kyrbaltabaysky, and Sogetinsky), as well as one District Pasture Coordinating Council, meant to make the use of community pastures more efficient and sustainable, and to foster participatory public-private territorial governance. The Project will also develop and implement sustainable pasture management plans in the five target okrugs and a pilot computerized pasture management system specifically for Sogetinsky okrug.

Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan Johannes Stenbaek Madsen highlighted the EU’s Green Deal, a new growth strategy to build a resource-efficient economy to stop climate change, and new opportunities for cooperation in the field of agriculture under the EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

The Enbekshi-Kazakh District Akimat expressed support in the implementation of the Project activities.

The JAILYM Project received financial support from the European Union as a result of the 2021 Call for Proposals under the thematic programme «Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities». Total budget: €274,981 (EU contribution: €247,483). The Project’s implementation period: 24 months.

The Project is being implemented by an international consortium, consisting of the Association «FELCOS-Umbria» (Italy, lead partner), the Department of Agriculture of the Enbekshi-Kazakh district’s Akimat, the Republican Association of Agricultural Cooperatives «AgroSoyuz of Kazakhstan», the Public Fund for Support of Peasant Farms «Farmer of Kazakhstan», the International Network of Local Development Agencies «ILS-Leda» (Italy), and the IsMed-CNR (National Research Council, Italy).

For additional information, please contact JAILYM Project Coordinator, Ms Francesca de Paula, [phone], [e-mail]; President of AgroSoyuz of Kazakhstan, Mr Alik S. Sagindykov, [phone], [e-mail]; Director of the «Farmer Fund of Kazakhstan» Mr Vladimir G. Levin, [phone], [e-mail]; or EU Delegation to Kazakhstan at [e-mail]