Deputies of the Senate Committee on Agrarian Issues, Nature Management, and Rural Development held a meeting with the senior officials of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The key issue on the agenda was the development status of the bill “On Making Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Utilization Pastures”. This bill, initiated by deputies of the national Senate of the parliament, is aimed at enhancing legislation on the management and utilization of pastures.
During the numerous visits of senators to the regions and meetings with the population, the inaccessibility of pastures to villagers in several settlements, the degradation of the available land, and the limiting concentration of livestock on the utilized territory were repeatedly raised. The changes initiated by senators are directed, among other things, on the regulation of these issues.
The Ministry of Agriculture also recognizes the problem. According to the statistics of the Ministry, 50 million hectares of pastures are required for grazing 6.2 million livestock units present in private farm holdings, i.e. the estimated shortage of pastures is 29 million hectares.
The meeting participants also discussed the prospects of applying the experience of Central Asian countries on pasture management and utilization. For instance, the bill envisages the revision of the institutional framework for pasture management, in particular, the transfer of competence to solve the issues of pasture utilization from local executive bodies of districts to the local self-government bodies of villages, rural districts, and cities of district subordinance.
(Press Office of the Senate, 74-72-27)
