Uzbekistan eyes meat industry development
The country has recently adopted a program of measures to ensure structural reforms, modernisation and diversification of production in 2015-2019.
Under the terms of the program, total investment in the meat sector should reach US$15.7 million. Of this, US$6.5m is to be spent on the construction of four new production facilities in different regions of the country.
Another US$9.2m will be devoted to the modernisation and expansion of production facilities at six of the country’s largest meat producers: Masterdelikatesov, Pozmetov ZM, Ibragimov XN, Agro Bravo, Bakht and Sieb Shavkat Orzu.
Meat production growing
According to industry experts’ preliminary estimates, implementing the program will result in the country’s meat production growing by about 25%, to 2.4m tonnes (mt) in liveweight by 2019.
In 2014, the country produced 1.9mt of meat (liveweight), 6.7% more than in 2013. Beef accounts for 76% of the total size of the domestic meat market, with poultry the second-largest segment, according to the Agricultural Ministry. Currently, 1,280 poultry farms, with a total poultry stock of 10.5m head, are operating in the country.
In 2014 Uzbekistan’s livestock products had a total value of UZS15.1 trillion (US$5.87bn). According to the country’s deputy minister of agriculture Yashin Hidirov, during the past decade Uzbekistan’s government has seen an average level of growth in the meat industry of 7-8% per year, and the new program will help maintain this pace of growth in the years ahead.
'Number of cattle increased'
“As a result of consistent measures [in the area of meat livestock industry development] in the past five years, the number of cattle in the country increased by 121%, sheep and goats by 120%, and poultry by 1.5 times,” added Hidirov.
“This ensured growth in meat products of 130%, with milk up 138%, and eggs up 162%. In addition, in 2014, the annual consumption of meat, milk and eggs per capita increased respectively by 1.3, 1.6 and 1.5 times compared with 1990.”
“Animal husbandry now accounts for 42% of total agricultural production in the country,” added Sobir Mavlonov, head of the Agriculture Ministry’s livestock department.
“The growth figures in recent years have also been achieved by increasing the numbers of livestock, as well as improving livestock productivity. For example, from 2006-2014 the country purchased about 46,000 pure-bred cows from Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Austria, Germany and Netherlands.”
