Kazakhstan: Officials overestimated grain harvest and agricultural production for bonuses

Kazachstan: Urzędnicy dla premii przeszacowali zbiory zbóż i produkcję rolną

Regional authorities in Kazakhstan overestimated last year's grain harvest by 3 million tons, or 20%. It also came to light that data on livestock, potato production and milk production had been overstated, reports the American agency Bloomberg. Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin, responsible for trade and agriculture, admitted in an interview that official statistics on agriculture in Kazakhstan are completely unreliable.

The existing remuneration system, in which local officials and authorities were entitled to bonuses for high yields, encouraged regional officials to falsify data. Local authorities also wanted to maintain political support and the goodwill of the government in this way. This is also why milk production has been overstated for a long time, hiding the growing national deficit. Potato yields and cattle numbers should also be corrected downwards.

The government now wants to correct the figures, as they distort the strengths and weaknesses of Kazakhstan's agricultural sector and lead to the misallocation of subsidies. In addition, the country is losing its image in the eyes of foreign partners. That is why the government has announced a "statistical amnesty" and at the same time has taken steps to ensure that reliable data flows from the regions.

Deputy Prime Minister Zhumangarin admitted that the biggest disappointment was the data on grain production, especially wheat. It showed that last year 2.1 million tons of wheat were harvested, while there was much less of it.

The Minister of Agriculture announced that from 2025 the government will not be able to provide subsidies to farmers who grow crops below the established yield. However, the Deputy Prime Minister expressed his belief that doubling the use of fertilizers in Kazakhstan over the next two years will result in the expected increase in agricultural production.