Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov reported on the ongoing work on digitalisation of the agricultural sector at the Government session, primeminister.kz reports.
He noted that digitalisation of the agricultural sector is an important direction in improving the efficiency of agricultural production. In the conditions of global changes and technological transformation in the republic are actively developed and implemented modern digital solutions.
To date, the digitalisation of the agricultural sector covers four information systems:
- Unified State Subsidy Information System (USIS);
- Identification of Agricultural Animals (IAS);
- The Unified Automated Management System for Agro-industrial Complex Sectors e-Agriculture;
- The information system of crediting the population Auyl Amanaty.
The Ministry launched the Unified State Subsidy Information System (USIS) in 2023, which covers all areas of subsidies in the agro-industrial complex.
Previously, a private platform operated for several years, which led to a certain monopoly in the field of subsidies and issues of transparency in the allocation of financial resources. Following the implementation of the system, positive effects have been achieved in the form of free of charge for all users, saving them more than 1 billion tenge, as well as minimised corruption risks through the introduction of a queue of applications and waiting list," Aidarbek Saparov noted.
The Minister added that since this year counter obligations for farmers have been introduced through the state system. More than 1,500 farmers have already made commitments in this direction. The state subsidy system is integrated with the necessary systems of other state bodies. One of the important steps was the integration with the system of the State Revenue Committee for receiving invoices in electronic format (EFS). This approach eliminated the previous manipulation of subsidies, preventing them from being reused, withdrawn or changed.
The State Subsidy System emphasised transparency of the subsidy process and equal access subject to compliance with requirements (availability of land, purchase of subsidised goods, etc.) by introducing a queue of applications, where each application is considered one by one depending on the date and time of application, and information on the status of the application and budget availability for a particular subsidy category is publicly available. In parallel, a waiting list was introduced, which allows a farmer to apply for subsidies at any time, even if there are no funds in the budget.
According to the agency, in 2024, the volume of applications for subsidies through the GISS significantly exceeded the previous year's figures. The growth is especially noticeable in the fertiliser sector, where funding has increased several times.
Thus, in 2024, more than 240 thousand applications were submitted through the subsidy system, of which more than 177.5 thousand were approved and more than 29 thousand were refused. At present, more than 33 thousand applications of financial institutions for interest rate repayment are under consideration by the Agricultural Department. In this regard, the mechanism of direct subsidies to financial institutions will be implemented for the transition to preferential lending to agribusiness entities.
One of the important directions of the Ministry's activity is digitalisation of the livestock industry. To ensure traceability in livestock breeding, the Ministry of Agriculture is systematically working on the automation of the entire life cycle (including livestock products).
Previously, records of farm animals were kept mainly manually. Information on livestock breeding, laboratory tests, outbreaks of particularly dangerous diseases, as well as on animal sale and purchase transactions was kept in paper format. This approach was not only labour-intensive and time-consuming, but also posed significant risks to data accuracy and timeliness.
The automation of livestock accounting processes has enabled transparency and efficiency in the handling of farm animals. Animal registration and laboratory tests have been significantly accelerated through the automation of animal data entry. This allows veterinary services to quickly identify infections and localise disease outbreaks, preventing outbreaks at an early stage and reducing the risk of infections and loss of productivity.
Specialised mobile applications have been developed for more efficient livestock management:
VETMOBILE is an app for veterinary professionals that helps to register animals, track their condition, keep records of vaccinations and diseases, and receive notifications of upcoming inspections and events.
TORTTULIK is an application for owners of farm animals, which allows you to track all registered animals, keep records of purchase and sale of livestock, diseases and vaccinations. This application greatly simplifies the process of working with animals and helps agrarians to monitor the state of their livestock in real time.
The ministry has also started work on the implementation of a new crop traceability information system (CTIS). The existing traceability of crop products occurs only when accompanying documents are issued for a batch, which does not ensure full traceability. In this regard, the Ministry has started to develop an information system for traceability of crop production.
This system will allow tracing the cycle of production and origin of agricultural products to export on the principle from field to table, as well as will ensure control and safety of transported products. It is also planned to introduce passportisation of crop production facilities, which will ensure transparency of the origin of products.
It is noted that the final stage of digitalisation of the agro-industrial complex will be the introduction of the E-APK platform, implying a platform approach to create a unified digital ecosystem of the agro-industrial complex.
In order to ensure a comprehensive approach to the digitalisation of agriculture and the creation of a unified digital platform of the agro-industrial complex, it is planned to unite all available information systems in agriculture. The creation of a unified digital platform will make it possible to ensure a full cycle of traceability in agriculture, by interconnecting the subsidy system, farmland management, crop and livestock production. In this regard, I would like to note once again that the gradual digitalisation of the agro-industrial complex is one of the main tasks of the Ministry for the near future, in order to ensure transparency of products and food security of the country," Aidarbek Saparov summed up.
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