The Kazakhstan industry body "Greenhouses Union of Kazakhstan" was founded to establish full-fledged contacts between producers of greenhouse equipment and Kazakhstani farmers. Something that is necessary, mr Nurlan says. "Kazakhstan needs 3.000 ha high-tech greenhouses to saturate both the domestic market and export." Therefor the organisation invites global manufacturers of greenhouse equipment to cooperate with Kazakhstani farmers and ensures forming mutually beneficial contacts. Vigorous state support is provided for agricultural producers in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan as an agricultural producer
"Kazakhstan has is an inexhaustible resource of agricultural land", says Nurlan, front man of the industry body The Greenhouses Union of Kazakhstan. "Today Kazakhstan has 91 million hectares of undeveloped areas that are suitable for growing vegetables. Kazakhstan ranks in fourth place globally as being one of the most attractive countries for investments in agriculture."
He explains how Kazakhstan is very beneficial from a climatic point of view. "It has more sunny days than some other countries, for example, Russia. Kazakhstan is located in the so-called third light zone, so it has up to 300 sunny days a year and thus gets more solar radiation and artificial lighting is needed in greenhouses in the winter only. The almost year-round sunlight ensures both the quality of the vegetables and low cost price."
The potential sales market for finished products should be taken into consideration as well. "Kazakhstan borders with Russia that has a population of 140 million people and China with its 1.5 billion people. Kazakhstani farmers are ready to pass the certification of GLOBAL GAP products that will allow them to enter the global agricultural market."
The productive capacity of greenhouses in Kazakhstan is also high. "A modern greenhouse here provides average of 58-60 kg of tomatoes or 90 kg of cucumbers per year from each with 1 sq. m."
"Nevertheless, greenhouses in Kazakhstan occupy just 2 thousand hectares, including simplest plastic-coated greenhouses of several hundred square meters and modern hi-tech greenhouses of up to 300 hectares," Nurlan says. "The country needs additional 3 thousand hectares of modern hi-tech greenhouses to saturate both the domestic market and export. Given that there are millions of hectares of undeveloped land, greenhouse areas have the potential to be increased several times."
Establishing contact
The Greenhouses Union of Kazakhstan was founded to establish full-fledged contacts between producers of greenhouse equipment and Kazakhstani farmers. For them, a greenhouse is not just a vegetable patch. "They view a modern greenhouse as a production complex that includes the entire process from sprouting seeds to shipping the packaged product."
And there's more: government support is provided for greenhouse growers. "Gorwers are provided with preferential loans for their projects through state development institutions - JSC Kazagrofinance and JSC Agrarian Credit Corporation - and subsidies for fertilizers. After a greenhouse production project is completed the government pays back 25% of the invested funds to the investor thus creating a favorable investment field."
"We are ready to assist growers in finding and contacting the world's best industry experts, developers of complex greenhouse projects, suppliers of equipment and expandable materials," says Nurlan. "We invite suppliers of greenhouses and greenhouse equipment from all over the world to visit our website or get in touch."
For more information:
The Greenhouses Union of Kazakhstan
1/1 Azerbayzhan Mambetov str.,
Kokainar microdistrict
Alatau district Almaty
Republic of Kazakhstan
https://ugkaz.kz/
E-mail: info@ugkaz.kz
Tel .: +7 727 344 34 84
+7 700 344 34 84