Oilseed crops in Kazakhstan: improvement of production structure

In the Republic of Kazakhstan, oilseed crops rank second after grain in the human diet and are widely used in livestock production and for industrial purposes. Sunflower, rapeseed, mustard, soybean, safflower, and oil flax are cultivated in various regions. While maintaining their role as an important sector ensuring the country’s food security, oilseed production demonstrates steady growth. However, despite positive trends, the volumes of oilseed cultivation, vegetable oils, and other fat-and-oil products do not yet fully meet the needs of the domestic market and industry in Kazakhstan, indicating significant development potential of the oil-and-fat sector. The objective is to analyze the state of the oilseed sector of the republic and identify problems and prospects for its modernization. Methods include statistical methods for analyzing quantitative data and identifying patterns, graphical methods for visual representation of information, and analytical approaches for identifying cause-and-effect relationships. Results – it is shown that expansion of sown areas, increases in yield, gross harvest, and selling prices are observed only for sunflower; its sown area increased by 55% in 2019–2024 and amounted to 1,287.1 thousand hectares, yield indicators increased by 17.2 centners per hectare, and the selling price of sunflower during this period reached 59.8% (146.6 thousand tenge per ton). Conclusions – it is important to draw producers’ attention to the fact that despite the high profitability of sunflower cultivation, it is necessary to compensate for the significant removal of nutrientmacroelements from the soil after harvesting, observe crop rotations, and timely apply mineral and organic fertilizers to maintain soil fertility. The implementation of targeted measures will increase domestic production of oilseed products, create new jobs, improve the social situation in rural regions, and strengthen the position of domestic products in the international economic arena

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