He noted that in his address last year, President Sadyr Japarov emphasized the development of the agro-industrial complex, highlighting two key areas: the processing of agricultural products and organic farming.
According to Akimaliev, over the past four years, Kyrgyzstan has improved its level of food self-sufficiency. Previously, the country could fully meet its needs in only three products—milk, potatoes, and vegetables—but now sugar, meat, and eggs have been added to this list. As a result, out of nine main food security items, six are produced within the country.
However, there is a high dependence on imports in certain categories. About 50% of wheat, up to 80% of vegetable oil, and approximately 55% of berries and fruits come from abroad. Despite the fact that in 2024 the volume of domestic production of berries and fruits has increased to nearly 400,000 tons, many of them are lost due to insufficient processing.
Akimaliev pointed out that losses of fruits and berries can reach 40%. The current level of processing is only 5-10%, while during the Soviet period more than 50% of the harvest was processed. A similar situation is observed in other agricultural sectors: meat is processed at a level of about 1%, and the share of processed apricots and other crops is minimal.
As an example, he cited Batken apricots, which are sold at low prices in their raw form, then processed abroad and sold at significantly higher prices. The lack of a market leads to fruits and berries remaining unclaimed in regions, including the Issyk-Kul region, and ultimately rotting.
Akimaliev highlighted the construction of processing enterprises, logistics, and trade centers as priority tasks. He is confident that without this, achieving food security in the country is impossible. The scientist also emphasized that processing is becoming a more important and complex task than production itself.
One of the goals set by the president is to increase the level of agricultural product processing to 25% in the next five years. Akimaliev believes that to achieve this goal, it is necessary to actively attract investments and create favorable conditions for the development of the processing industry.
