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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kazakstan
Index
In the early 1990s, agriculture was the second largest sector of the
economy, contributing about 36 percent of GDP and employing about 18
percent of the workforce in 1993. The climate and soil of most of
Kazakstan are best suited to the light grazing by which the nomadic Kazaks
had traditionally supported themselves, following herds of sheep, cattle,
camels, and horses about the open steppe. Despite such natural advantages,
Soviet policy encouraged cultivation, especially in the northern parts of
the republic. The major transformation occurred under premier Khrushchev
during the Virgin Lands program of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Its
objectives were to reduce Soviet grain imports to Central Asia and settle
the remaining nomadic herdsmen of Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan. Under that
program, 60 percent of Kazakstan's pastureland went under cultivation. An
estimated 30 percent of that land was not suitable for cultivation,
however, and Khrushchev was ousted in 1964 after a series of crop failures
in Kazakstan. In 1992 the total area under cultivation was 36.5 million
hectares, of which 2.3 million hectares were irrigated. Much of this land
is dedicated to large-scale wheat farming, which requires intensive
capitalization and does not lend itself to privatization. Even with the
emphasis on grain production, about 84 percent of the republic's
agricultural land, or about 187 million hectares, remains devoted to
pasturage, mainly of cattle and sheep. Continuation of the Soviet system
of intensive livestock management, dependent on fodder more than on
natural grazing, has left much grazing land unused and has distorted
cultivation in favor of fodder production.
The primary agricultural regions are the north-central and southern
parts of the republic. Grain production is especially important in the
north-central region, and cotton and rice predominate in the south (see
table 7, Appendix). Kazakstan also is a major producer of meat and milk.
In 1993 only about 1.5 percent of agricultural land was in private
hands. Although some privatization had occurred, the bulk of Kazakstan's
agriculture remained organized in 7,000 to 8,000 state and collective
farms that averaged 35,000 to 40,000 hectares each. Many of those farms
had moved into a transitional stage of joint-stock ownership, private
collectives, or farming associations (see Post-Soviet Economic
Developments, this ch.). The state also has maintained control of
agricultural inputs and equipment, as well as some processing and
marketing policies and operations. In the wake of price liberalization,
the mandated state share of agricultural sales has decreased annually from
the 1991 level of 70 percent.
Until the early 1990s, western Kazakstan was an important fishing area,
but sharply increased salination has made the Aral Sea sterile. Fishing
output dropped from 105,300 tons in 1960 to 89,600 tons in 1989. The
current figure is probably close to zero, judging by the decision of
Soviet central planners in 1990 to fly Arctic fish to Kazakstan for
processing as a means of maintaining local employment in that operation.
Data as of March 1996
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