KAZAKHSTAN AS A CONTRIBUTOR TO FOOD SECURITY

Dmitry Babich for the EU Reporter wrote an article about Kazakhstan’s role in resolving food security issues globally. Author mentioning that the country was involved in varied humanitarian initiatives, including UN Global Food Security Program, despite COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the subsequent cessation of grain imports from Russia. Babich noted that some countries considering pandemic-related disruptions such as India and China preserving grain and livestock for the internal market, while Kazakhstan tries to reach new market opportunities.

Author is referring to the latest Forbes publication which reviewed Kazakhstan’s export of wheat that was increased to the EU countries13-fold. Also decreasing of export of seeds by China compelled Kazakhstan to reorient its export to Turkey and filling the gap created by Ukrainian oil seed disruption. The article is adverting to Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tileuberdi statement at the “Global Food Security: a Call to Action” ministerial conference at the United Nations headquarters on May 18 this year about Kazakhstan’s readiness to promote global food security.

Author emphasizes importance and promptness of such statement, when the newly-released 2022 Global Report on Food Crises reveals increasing number of people facing acute food insecurity from 135 million in 2019 to 193 million in 2021 in the 53 countries.

Kazakhstan supports its neighbor Afghanistan, in the framework of the World Food Program delivered 20,000 tons of flour in October of 2021 – one of the challenged periods for the Afghan population.

Author is wondering there, how Kazakhstan with unfavorable climate condition, bordering some of the poorest countries in the world, become a donor of food security?

He is highlighting that transforming country from a cattle-breeding economy to a modern producer of all kinds of agricultural products is fascinating.

During the Soviet era, Kazakhstan in 1956 produced 16.38 million tons of grain outpacing Soviet Ukraine, which is a significant achievement for the formerly nomadic nation, where crop production was a relatively new branch of economy.

In 2021, Kazakhstan produced 19,2 million tons of grain, in the current year it plans to harvest at least 15 million tons of wheat alone. Hereby Kazakhstan is one of the major supplier of grain for its poorer neighbors such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Additionally, active participation in UN’s food security donor programs increases the country’s prestige, makes it a preferred partner of both Western countries and China, as well as for former republics of the late Soviet Union.  Author concluded his review mentioning that modern food exporters are the real saviors of mankind where food and its shortages should not be used as a political weapon, so Kazakhstan could assist in good cause to provide food security for the people in all the world.

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