Tag Archives: agriculture

Walnut forests produce valuable commodity in Kyrgyzstan

ARSLANBOB/Kyrgyzstan, MAY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In rural Kyrgyzstan, walnuts are important. Ilhon sighed as he leaned in and explained the significance of the walnut to the local economy of this small village in the Jalalabad region, south Kyrgyzstan.Surrounding the village is a 60,000 hectare walnut forest, providing a crop of about 1,000 tonnes each year.

In a country as poor as Kyrgyzstan, walnut crops can make up around a third of the average annual salary. The walnut season also provides a trickle-down effect on employment.

As well as the farmers, who lease the state-owned land to collect the walnut, other people are employed to shell walnuts and drivers to transport it to local markets. Most of the walnuts are then sent to Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

Still, it is just seasonal labour and when the season finishes its time to find fresh work.

Just like most of Kyrgyzstan, Ilhon and his brother look to Russia for help.

They head north to find casual labour, sending home most of what they earn. It’s tough and the pay isn’t great, but at least is does pay.

“Life is more difficult in winter,” Ilhon said of the drop in employment once the walnut season ends. “There is very little work around Arslanbob. Many of the men here go to Russia.”

There is another problem for Ilhon and others living and working in the walnut forests of south Kyrgyzstan. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the forests have been increasingly poorly managed. These forests are the largest walnut forests in the world but they are also under threat.”

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

ADB boosts microfinance in rural Azerbaijan

APRIL 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government should develop rural microfinance mechanisms to help boost its economy and wean it off its addiction to oil, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in an annual report.

The main body of the ADB’s report covers similar ground to other economic organsiations — that as oil prices relax and Azerbaijan’s own oil output slows, revenues to the government budget are likely to dip.

This, the ADB said, will probably reduce public spending.

And public spending, fuelled by oil revenues, has been driving Azerbaijan’s economic growth.

The government, therefore, has to look for other ways of generating economic growth, the ADB said. It praised the Central Bank’s move to curb lending to consumers and instead promote growth through loans to small and medium sized businesses.

“However, more is needed to promote lending in rural areas,” the ADB said.

Roughly 40% of Azerbaijan’s population live in rural areas but, the ADB said, growth was being stymied by excessive government activity swamping private enterprise and potential state revenues. What Azerbaijan needs to do in rural areas is build micro-finance options and extend bank branch networks.

“These steps should boost rural income and, eventually, revenue from rural areas, thereby reducing the budget’s current dependence on oil earnings,” the ADB said.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)

Tajikistan wants Ukrainian oligarch’s assets

MARCH 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukrainian industrial magnate Dmitri Firtash, one of Ukraine’s richest people, is having a rough time.

Four days after Austrian police arrested Mr Firtash on various criminal charges, Tajikistan’s anti-corruption agency launched an investigation into a 2002 deal involving his Cyprus-based Khairok Holdings Company.

The deal saw Khairok Holdings buy a 75% stake in Tajik Azot, a factory that produces carbamide as a fertiliser.

The timing of the Tajik investigation is suspect. Languishing in an Austrian jail makes it difficult for Mr Firtash to defend his Tajik business.

And the outlook for Mr Firtash’s control of Tajik Azot does not look good. Officials at the anti-corruption agency noted that Zayd Saydov was minister of industry when the deal was signed. Saydov is not a favourite of the authorities. He is a rival to Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and was jailed in December for 26 years for corruption, polygamy and sex with a minor.

At full capacity Tajik Azot, based 117km from Dushanbe, exported international standard Carbamide to countries across the former Soviet Union, employing over 800 people.

Since 2008, production at the plant has plummeted due to high prices of natural gas from Uzbekistan. Nevertheless as Tajikistan seeks to develop its own hydrocarbons sector the facility may assume a strategic role in the national economy once more. A nice asset to grab while you can.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)

Qatar invests in Azerbaijan

FEB. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Mohammad al-Mosallam, deputy head of business development at Qatar Holding, visited Baku and held talks with the Azerbaijani minister of agriculture, Heydar Asadov, about possibly investing in the sector. Qatar Holding is one of the biggest investment groups in the world and could be a boost for Azerbaijan’s agriculture.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)

Kazakhstan investigates child labour

DEC. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor-General launched an investigation into possible child labour practices in southern Kazakhstan after it found 700 children picking cotton, media reported. International organisations have criticised Central Asia’s cotton industry, and in particular Uzbekistan, for using children to pick cotton harvests.

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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)

Kazakhstan ups grain harvest

NOV. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will harvest up to 19m tonnes of grain this year, a 50% rise from 2012, media quoted deputy agriculture minister Muslim Umiryaev as saying. Over the past decade Kazakhstan has turned itself into a major grain exporter. It has become an important part of the economy.

(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)

Russian fertiliser starts business in Kazakhstan

OCT. 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s EuroChem, one of the world’s largest fertiliser companies, said it had begun phosphate mining in southern Kazakhstan. EuroChem is controlled by Russian businessman Andrei Melnichenko who is considered to be close to the Kremlin. EuroChem operations are expected to create hundreds of jobs.

(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)

Russia lifts ban on Georgian fruit imports

OCT. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia lifted a ban on fruit imports from Georgia, a further sign of improving relations. In 2006, Russia banned fruit from Georgia, officially because of poor hygiene. Most analysts, though, said the ban was in retaliation for the expulsion from Tbilisi of four soldiers for spying.

(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 2013)

Azerbaijan receives World Bank loan

OCT. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The World Bank has approved a $53.25m loan to Azerbaijan’s agriculture sector, the head of its office in Baku Larisa Leshchenko told media. The loan will be used to improve agricultural businesses’ access to finance and to also modernise equipment. Azerbaijan has made boosting its agriculture sector a priority.

(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)

Kazakhstan increases harvest forecast

SEPT. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has increased its grain harvest forecast for 2013 to 18.5m tonnes from around 16m tonnes, media reported quoting agriculture minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov. The grain harvest has become an increasingly important part of Kazakhstan’s economy. In 2011 it harvested a post-Soviet record of 27m tonnes of grain.

(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)