Uzbekistan to create 168,000 hectares of industrialized orchards and vineyards

Uzbekistan to create 168,000 hectares of industrialized orchards and vineyards

On May 14 of this year, the President held a meeting on measures to increase intensively industrialized orchards in the regions. The meeting discussed the development of fruit and vegetable growing in the country, the production of export-oriented products, and increasing the income of the population. It was noted that currently there are 572.6 thousand hectares of orchards and vineyards in Uzbekistan, which provide $ 1 billion in exports annually.
However, currently there are 61 thousand hectares of old and 18 thousand hectares of unusable orchards that require renovation. The experience of an 84-hectare export-oriented cherry orchard in Pop district was cited as an example. Young seedlings yield 7 tons per hectare, and each kilogram of the product is exported for $ 8. The meeting proposed introducing a new procedure for working with old orchards. According to it, land and water taxes will be increased for areas where industrial gardens have not been established for 12 months. If this situation continues for another year, water use will be restricted.
The President emphasized the importance of digitizing control over the effective use of land and gave instructions to launch a system for monitoring the condition of gardens using space images. It was also proposed to allocate up to 50 seedlings or a loan of up to 2 million soums to the population to renew old gardens on homesteads and dehkan farms, and up to 150 million soums to dehkan farms.
It was reported that in 2026-2028, it is planned to create 168 thousand hectares of industrial gardens and vineyards. This is expected to attract $ 2 billion in investment and create 258 thousand new jobs.
9 commercial banks will be assigned to the regions to support such projects. Banks will provide entrepreneurs with ready-made industrialized orchards, as well as agrotechnical and financial support for two years.
The meeting also presented a new system of support for entrepreneurs creating intensive orchards. Agrostar companies will cooperate with entrepreneurs on a partnership basis. In addition, it was decided to allocate up to 120 million soums of credit per hectare, and half of the interest rate will be compensated for timely repayment of loans. A subsidy of 5 million soums per hectare will be provided for the maintenance costs of industrialized orchards for 3 years. At the end of the meeting, officials were given instructions on the renovation of old and unproductive orchards, the expansion of export-oriented varieties, and the development of agrologistics and processing capacities.