Expertise development for milk pro- duction in Kazakhstan – Phase 2

Development of expertise and structures for sustainable milk production extension service for household farms and small and medium-sized enterprises in southern Kazakhstan

The Agriculture in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s agricultural and food sector is heavily dependent on imports and raw materials. Livestock farming is mainly carried out by housholds/smallholders, which account for the largest share of domestic milk production, but are unable to meet the country’s overall demand. The disparity between the contribution of agriculture to GDP (5.1 per cent) and the high proportion of employees in the agricultural sector (over 20 per cent) indicates that productivity is still too low. The Kazakh government is therefore working on modernising and expanding the agricultural and food sector.

Portrait Kazakhstan

The Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia is the ninth largest country in the world at 2,724,900 km2 and borders Russia to the north, China and Kyrgyzstan to the south-east and Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the south-west.

With a population of 18.8 million, Kazakhstan is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.

The Project

The bilateral cooperation project promotes the exchange of expertise and supports the Kazakh partners in establishing a training centre for extension officers in the field of milk production. The project aims to train and educate future extension officers on modern and animal-friendly production systems in the dairy sector. The aim is to improve milk quality, animal welfare and health as well as the income of all milk-producing farms. The results of the project will be made available to expert groups and the Kazakh government for the further development of the dairy sector programme and agricultural policy.

Project Goals

Technical and methodological support for the establishment and operation of a training centre for modern milk production in southern Kazakhstan
Development and implementation of a training and education concept for future extension officers in milk production
Development and implementation of an advisory approach for milk-producing household smallholdings
Organisation of specialist seminars, practical courses and demonstration

Results and Successes

Findings and lessons learnt from the first project phase have been incorporat- ed into the Ministry of Agriculture’s new dairy sector strategy and are therefore an essential basis for the future design of the dairy sector extension services in Kazakhstan. Expertise from Germany and experience from the Kazakh pilot farms will be directly implemented in extension training.