Kazakhstan pushing ahead with dairy roadmap
The roadmap aims to provide transparent and monitoring of animal health, and will include measures such as testing raw milk to determine the current degree of compliance and evaluate the readiness of national laboratories to conduct the necessary tests. The roadmap also includes knowledge and best practice sharing.
The document is the initiative of the Dairy Union of Kazakhstan, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The roadmap was signed by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, and the Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Ministry of Trade and Integration). It was supported by the Chamber of Entrepreneurs, the Consumer Protection Union, and dairy companies in Kazakhstan.
The move is part of a larger initiative to develop an inclusive dairy industry in Kazakhstan, supported by the EBRD and FAO.
The development of the livestock sector is supported by the government of Kazakhstan with a national program aimed at growing the dairy industry and overcoming current bottlenecks.
Most of the country’s raw milk – around 3.9m tonnes of marketable milk per year – comes from small family farms. Milk yields are low compared to those of neighboring countries, and availability is seasonal. Milk safety parameters often fall short of EAEU standard requirements.
More than 2m families in Kazakhstan rely on the dairy sector. The Collect Mobile app, developed by the EBRD and the FAO, is helping to connect farmers with milk processors.
The EBRD and FAO say they will continue working with Kazakhstan’s livestock industry to align safety standards with those of the EAEU, EU and China, and to create export opportunities for Kazakh producers.
The cooperation will include study tours for Kazakhstan dairy industry representatives, know-how transfer, capacity-building and other initiatives.
The EBRD has invested €8.2bn ($9.2bn) in 262 projects in Kazakhstan. Of this total, €798m ($892m) has been invested through 56 projects in the agribusiness sector. The Bank has two resident offices in Nur-Sultan and Almaty as well as five local offices for outreach in remote areas of the country.
The FAO Liaison and Partnership Bureau in Kazakhstan is implementing eight national and regional projects totaling $3.1m. FAO's project pipeline, to contribute to food security in Kazakhstan and the region, includes 17 projects with approved funding of $12.2m.
