SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — As part of a joint Kazakh-Chinese investment programme, construction will begin on a new potash fertiliser plant in western Kazakhstan, Kazakh deputy industry minister Nurlan Sauranbayev said. Mr Sauranbayev said the initial cost of the plant would be about $1b.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
MAY 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has scrapped a plan to build a grain silo in Iran, media reported quoting an official at the Kazakh agriculture ministry. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s biggest grain producers and Iran is one of its biggest markets. The Kazakh agriculture ministry blamed political instability in Iran for pulling the plan.
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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s ministry of agriculture warned that a large plague of locusts was likely to infest parts of north and west Kazakhstan. The ministry’s press release said serious locust plagues were cyclical and that the last major infestation was in 2000.
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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
DEC. 14 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan faces a food shortage unless food rail wagons delayed in Uzbekistan are able to complete their journey, local media quoted the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Dushanbe, Alzira Ferreira, as saying. Tajik-Uzbek relations have worsened over the past year. Uzbekistan says a broken bridge has delayed the wagons.
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(News report from Issue No. 70, published on Dec. 22 2011)
JUNE 23 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Central Asia is facing a drought that will not only hit cotton and food production but also heighten tension across the region, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said. UNDP said that Water levels are a third lower than average in important reservoirs in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 46, published on June 28 2011)
APRIL 7 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Following warnings of low water levels, Tajikistan has now extended its seasonal electricity restrictions, AP reported. Water running off the Pamir Mountains is vital for both Tajikistan’s hydroelectric dams and the cotton fields of downstream Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 35, published on April 11 2011)
FEB. 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The price of wheat has jumped by 54% in Kyrgyzstan and 37% in Tajikistan since June 2010, the World Bank said. The Kyrgyzstan price rise is the largest in the world. Wheat makes up around 50% of people’s diets in both countries.
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(News report from Issue No. 28, published on Feb. 21 2011)
DEC. 10 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Industrial output in Kazakhstan rose 10.5% in the first 11 months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 but agricultural output fell by 12.3%, the Kazakh Statistics Committee said. This reflects Kazakhstan’s rebound from recession but also a drought which hit grain production.
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(News report from Issue No. 19, published on Dec. 13 2010)
NOV. 9 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Germany’s human rights commissioner called on the International Labour Organisation, a UN agency, to investigate Uzbekistan for using child labour to pick its cotton harvest. This is the sharpest criticism by a leading European figure of Uzbekistan’s alleged use of child labour. Uzbekistan has previously promised to stop the practice.
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(News report from Issue No. 15, published on Nov. 15 2010)
NOV. 3 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – In 2010 Kazakhstan harvested 13.9m tonnes of grain down from 22.7m tonnes in 2009, a senior official from the Kazakh ministry of agriculture said. This represents a drop of 31%. Droughts have reduced grain harvest this year throughout the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 14, published on Nov. 8 2010)