July 22, 2015

US$15.7 million to help promote growth of Uzbekistan's meat industry

Uzbekistan is embarking on a major effort to boost its meat production, with US$15.7 million to be progressively injected into the sector towards 2019.

According to estimates by industry experts, growth could swell by about 25%, to 2.4 million tonnes in liveweight by that year.

The goal will be realised through modernisation, structural reforms and diversification of production. With the recent investment, US$6.5 million will be put into the building of four production plants in different parts of the country.

Facilities, under the ownership of Uzbekistan's key meat producers, will also benefit from funding amounting to US$9.2 million, a sum to be used for expansion and modernisation. 

The Uzbekistani government's efforts to simulate development within its meat sector will help to maintain the average yearly growth of 7-8% witnessed over the last 10 years, said     Yashin Hidirov, the country's deputy minister of agriculture.

Attributing the growths to "consistent measures", he pointed to the rising number of livestock for the past five years, specifically, cattle which increased by 121%, sheep and goats by 120%, and poultry by "1.5 times".

Coupled with a positive trend of consumption in 2014, meat products rose 130% as well as milk and egg by 138% and 162%, respectively.

Last year, beef dominated the Uzbek meat market at an astonishing 76%, followed by poultry. 1.9 million tonnes of meat (liveweight) were produced in total, a 6.7% jump over 2013.

According to Sobir Mavlonov, the head of the Agriculture Ministry's livestock department, Uzbekistan's animal husbandry presently constitutes 42% of the overall agricultural output in the former Soviet state.