April 15, 2013

Kazakhstan will plant 13 million hectares of wheat in 2013 according to its agriculture minister.

Kazakhstan's Agriculture Minister Assylzhan Mamytbekov said, "According to the preliminary information of agricultural departments of Kazakhstan's oblasts, the plan is to sow crops at the area of 21.4 million hectares, which is almost at the level of 2012."

According to the Minister, the wheat-growing area is expected to shrink by 468,000 hectares and rice-growing area will be cut by 5,700 hectares compared to 2012 areas.

Meanwhile, the area for growing priority crops like corn and grain will be expanded by 5,600 hectares and areas under other priority crops will grow by 76,800 hectares.

The area under oil-bearing crops will reach 1.9 million hectares, which is 43,000 hectares more than the last year's level. Forage crops will be sowed at the area of 3.1 million hectares, which is 265,000 hectares more than in 2012.