Turkmenistan starts sowing of winter wheat
By Aynur Jafarova
Turkmenistan has started a massive sowing of winter wheat. The
country plans to harvest 1.6 million tons of wheat from 860,000
hectares of land in 2015, local media reported.
Turkmenistan will harvest 450,000 tons of wheat in the Akhal
region, 380,000 tons in Mary, 350,000 tons in Lebap, 300,000 tons
in Dashoguz and 120,000 tons in Balkan.
The current sowing campaign will involve about 2,000 plow tractors,
5,000 arable tractors, more than 1,660 seeders and other
equipment.
Turkmenistan, one of the five Central Asian countries with a
population of over 5.2 million, went through a process of reform in
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 are 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 established 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.
As of July, Turkmenistan harvested one million tons of wheat. The country managed to collect 1.6 million tons of grain in 2013. It has begun to export surplus of food grain since 2010.