Mass sowing work has begun in the grain-growing regions of Kazakhstan. As of the morning of May 13, 3.7 million hectares have been sown in the regions. This was announced during a government meeting by the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Aidarbek Saparov.
Sowing in the southern regions is nearing completion.
"The sowing of cotton (94.7%) and sugar beet (93.4%) is nearing completion. As for winter crops, winter grain crops have been sown on an area of 405.7 thousand hectares for the 2025 harvest. 74% of winter crops are in good condition, 23% are in satisfactory condition (in poor condition - 12.3 thousand hectares or 3%)," the minister noted.
According to the akimats of the regions, this year the total sown area will be 23.7 million hectares, which is 413 thousand hectares more than last year.
"Systematic work is underway to diversify agricultural crops: as a result, in 2 years it was possible to reduce the area under wheat by 750 thousand hectares. The area of forage and oilseed crops will reach 3.3 million hectares this year, while the area of sunflower for the first time will be 1.4 million hectares. Grain and leguminous crops are planned to be placed on 16.6 million hectares," Saparov informed.
According to him, the area of cotton will be 135 thousand hectares, of which the area grown by the traditional method will be reduced by 21.4 thousand hectares and will amount to 85 thousand hectares. At the same time, the area using drip irrigation will increase to 50 thousand hectares due to a joint project of the SPK "Turkestan" with the Chinese company Xinjiang Lihua. He noted that until 2023, only 2 thousand hectares of cotton were grown using drip irrigation.
"In the Kyzylorda region, the area of rice will be reduced by 4.7 thousand hectares (and will amount to 80.9 thousand hectares). In addition, in order to save irrigation water, work is underway to introduce water-saving technologies on 9.2 thousand hectares and laser leveling of fields on 60 thousand hectares," the head of the Ministry of Agriculture said.