Nazarbayeva: Council of Agro-Industrial Complex to be established under Senate
The day before she held a meeting with heads of scientific and educational centers as well as agricultural universities, Kazinform reports citing the Senate’s press service.
The event was attended by deputies of the Senate, heads of the National Agrarian Scientific and Educational Center, Kazakh National Agrarian University, Kazakh Agro-Technical University named after S. Seifullin, West Kazakhstan Agrarian and Technical University named after Zhangir Khan and research institutes.
Speaking at the roundtable, chairman of the board of JSC «National Agrarian Scientific and Educational Center» Toleutai Rakhimbekov said that the main problem of agricultural science in Kazakhstan is the lack of systems transferring knowledge and technologies. In this regard, T. Rakhimbekov proposed to restore the system of rural information and consultation points in the regions on the basis of regional agricultural colleges and chambers of entrepreneurs.
Mr. Rakhimbekov stressed a problem of staff shortages in agricultural science. He also emphasized that graduates of specialized universities usually do not work in their specialty.
Toleutay Rakhimbekov informed that to date 70 out of 100 thousand graduates of the Bolashak International Educational Scholarship work in the agricultural sector.
In his speech, General Director of the Kazakh Research Institute of Agriculture and Plant Growing Andrey Ageyenko focused on the situation in local seed production. According to his words, the problem of storage of the plant gene pool is of high importance as the existing system of primary seed production does not meet the requirements of modern agribusiness. He noted that large majority of local farmers sow grain which is not in compliance with the standards.
Damir Kaldybayev, Director General of Karabalyk Agricultural Experimental Station LLP, in turn, proposed to legislatively regulate the import and export of seeds. In his opinion this will increase the competitiveness of domestic producers and protect the national market.
Concluding the discussion, D. Nazarbayeva advocated the creation of a permanent platform under the Senate for holding discussions related to the problems of the agricultural sector.
Following the roundtable Senate Speaker instructed the Committee on Agrarian Issues, Nature Management and Rural Development to search into the matters raised by the meeting participants and prepare them for consideration at the parliamentary hearings.
