Argentinean cows need good nourishment: Nazarbayeva

Majilis deputies have once again discussed failure of the cattle breeding program, Tengrinews.kz reports from the meeting of the social and cultural development commission of the Majilis (Lower Chamber of the Parliament). “I think that the number of imported cattle was quite high. Yes, measures have been taken to develop cattle breeding, numerous feed yards have been constructed and other steps have been made. But the results have been quite insignificant so far. Import of beef and lamb, unfortunately, remains at a stable high level. I think that the situation may change in the nearest time, in meat and milk, in particular,” Vice-Minister of Economic Development and Trade Timur Zhaksylykov said answering the questions of the commission’s chairman Dariga Nazarbayeva. “I think that the situation with cattle breeding will not change in the nearest time as we shouldn’t bring cows from Argentine, Australian or Germany, if there are no good conditions for them to survive here: professional veterinary help, feed base and highly qualified personnel with modern technologies and knowledge in the area. These are three major components that we currently lack. No matter how many cows we import and greenhouses we build, there will be no results. The main thing we do here is spend the money - build and import - while nobody is responsible for the final results,” Nazarbayeva said. Zhaksylykov also stated that the statistics shows a decrease of cattle livestock population. “As our colleagues from Agricultural Ministry explain, this happened because of the head count. As I understand the statistical decrease happened mostly on paper. In fact there is some growth,” he said. Deputy Valikhan Bishimbayev gave the statistics that the cattle livestock dropped 14 percent in Kazakhstan. This September the Parliament also criticized implementation of the cattle breeding development program and insisted that Agricultural Minister Assylzhan Mamytbekov was responsible for deterioration of the situation in the sector. By Renat Tashkinbayev