The Ministry of Agriculture has reported losses of 30-40 per cent from the national wheat yield in 2012 due to heat and drought. Farmers say the losses are significant.
Head of the department of Food Processing Plants under the Ministry of Agriculture, Asylbek Zhumabekov, said that in 2012, Kyrgyzstan lost up to 30 percent of the wheat crop planted in the spring.
Zhumabekov said that the depressed yield was due to drought.
According to his projections, Kyrgyzstan will amass 653,000 tons of wheat by the end of the year, almost half as much as last year’s yield, which totaled nearly 900,000 tons.
Zhumabekov told Kloop.kg that imports of wheat from neighboring Kazakhstan had been increased. Since the beginning of the year more than 260,000 tons of grain had been brought in from their northern neighbor – 100,000 more than during the same period in 2011.
By the end of the year, the government will have imported about 200,000 tons of wheat from Kazakhstan and a further 100,000 tons from Russia, he said.
At a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov announced that the loss in yield was caused by the “weak” organization of spring field work, according to quotes carried by the news agency Tazabek.
In April 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture reported that spring field work began 15 days later than scheduled because of a lingering winter.
“70 percent” of the crop destroyed
Farmers talk of even larger losses. In their view, heat and drought have destroyed up to 70 percent of the crop.
Bakyt Nooganbaev, a farmer and member of the Bishkek-based cooperative Mukai, says that in 2012 Kyrgyzstan will gather only 300,000 tons of wheat – just a third of last year’s harvest.
According to Noogonbaev, yields are down more in Chui province than any other.
A farmer from Chui, Ibrahim Faratov, argues that the loss of crops is a result of the heat, which began “early” in April.
He also refers to another problem – soil degradation, and explains that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kyrgyz authorities did not introduce crop rotation* in agriculture.
Faratov told Kloop.kg that the high cost of corn during the spring field work and also contributed to the decrease in yield.
“On the one hand the sewable area has reduced in size, on the other the [impact of] drought. Because of this there is very little wheat,” said the farmer.
In the summer of 2012 the average air temperature has so far ranged from 30 to 35 degrees Celsius, according to the Kyrgyz State Meteorological Service.
In the same period in 2011, the average temperature was between 27-33 degrees Celsius.
Spikes in the price of flour
In July, the cost of a kilogram of flour grew by five soms in the major cities of Kyrgyzstan. In Bishkek the price went from 25 KGS to 30 KGS in Bishkek and from 20 to 25 soms in Osh.
In the regions, transport logistics often conspire to push the price up further.
Jalal-Abad farmer Asilbek Eraliev says that in his area the cost of one kilogram of flour has risen from 17 soms to 28 soms.
Rustam Zhumabekov, chairman of the board of directors at the flour plant Akun, says the company sells a kilo of flour at 22 soms, but this price will go up by three soms because of the “weak” crop in Kyrgyzstan and neighboring Kazakhstan.
Zhumabekov said that a wheat crisis is broadly observable accross world markets.
According to the television channel Euronews, the cost of wheat in 2012 rose by 19 percent worldwide compared with last year. This is due to a “bad” wheat harvest in Russia – the world’s leading supplier.
*Crop rotation is when crops are rotated from one field to another in order to rest land, improve soil fertility and control weeds and pests.
Author: Ainura Kaarmanova
