Turkmenistan harvests 1 mln tons of wheat
By Aynur Jafarova
Turkmenistan has harvested one million tons of wheat, government sources said on July 2.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov urged relevant bodies to keep under strict control the course of reaping, ensuring the completion of the campaign at an optimum time and without losses.
The harvesting of wheat began in Turkmenistan earlier this month. The total area of the country's grain field is 860,000 hectares. More than 2,000 'Claas', 'Case', 'John Deere' and other harvesters are involved in the campaign.
Turkmenistan managed to collect 1.6 million tons of grain in 2013. The country has begun to export surplus of food grain since 2010.
Turkmenistan, one of the five Central Asian countries with a population of over 5.2 million went through a process of reform of the agricultural sector under President Saparmurat Niyazov who ran the country from 1990 to 2006. To this end, large Soviet-era collective farms were replaced by small private farm holdings.
In 2010 Turkmenistan started to export food grain. In particular, the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange sold 150,000 tons of wheat in foreign markets and 30,000 tons in domestic markets.
Currently, the government largely supports the farmers and provides them with seed and fertilizer.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has issued a decree on establishment of a state commission for streamlined harvesting of cereals in 2014.
It will allow fast and lossless harvesting at a high level and
trouble-free transportation of the harvested cereals to warehouses
and grain elevators. Timely payments to grain producers is among
other advantages of establishing the commission. It will also serve
to regularly increase the production of wheat, which is considered
a source of wealth and guarantee of food sovereignty of
Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan has a council that supervises the export of
agricultural and commodity products. It consists of representatives
from the some ministries and official departments as well as
agricultural joint stock companies.