Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin heard proposals from the Ministry of Agriculture to improve the efficiency of the phytosanitary control system in Kazakhstan, primeminister.kz reports.
Specialists, machinery, laboratory equipment and internet at posts are key elements of the proposed reform of the phytosanitary inspection system in Kazakhstan. The phytosanitary inspection system in the regions is divided into two main areas: plant protection (control of locusts and other dangerous pests and plant diseases) and plant quarantine (control of export-import regulated products).
Plant protection is handled by territorial inspectors and phytosanitary control at the border is handled by quarantine inspectors. The number of quarantine and territorial inspectors does not grow with the annual increase of workload. Moreover, there is an acute shortage of phytosanitary specialists in the field.
At present, out of 77 existing phytosanitary quarantine posts, five posts have no control at all due to lack of specialists, and 22 posts have no attached inspectors, inspectors from district or regional inspections are sent there. The deficit of staff units of quarantine inspectors is more than 150 people, more than one hundred - territorial inspectors on plant protection. Also, for effective work, modular or stationary laboratories need to be set up at border checkpoints," Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ermek Kenzhekhanuly said.
More than half of the equipment fleet at territorial inspections, which is necessary for timely detection and control of locust outbreaks, is worn out. At least 86 units of equipment are needed for renewal. There is a lack of quarantine laboratories. In particular, only 18 laboratories are functioning on the basis of the Republican Centre of Plant Quarantine, while the number of conducted examinations is growing annually: 27 thousand in 2022, 28 thousand in 2023, and already 30 thousand in 9 months of 2024.
Due to the lack of internet at 32 phytosanitary quarantine posts documents are executed in paper form. In addition, without the Internet specialists will not be able to have access to the EASU system for verification of documents that arrived and crossed the border," Yermek Kenzhekhanuly explained.
Also at the meeting they voiced the project of reforming the structure of the phytosanitary service, aimed at improving the effectiveness of the fight against locusts and dangerous plant diseases.
In order to increase transparency and traceability of veterinary and phytosanitary documents between Kazakhstan and Russia and within the perimeter of the EAEU countries, the integration between the Unified Automated Management System and information systems of the EEC and the Russian Federation is being finalised.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Baglan Bekbauov noted that due to integration Russian specialists will be able to see in their information system information about issued veterinary and phytosanitary supporting documents (phyto/vet certificates), have access to a single database of permits for import, export, transit of controlled goods, as well as to the register of organisations and persons engaged in the production, processing, storage of goods. Thus, after the integration of information systems, the problem of verification of phyto and veterinary certificates will be solved.
Works on test connection to the National Gateway have already been carried out and messages have been successfully delivered to the EEC loop. Work is underway to finalise the functionality. It is planned to join the EEC information system already this year," Baglan Bekbauov noted.
Deputy Minister also said that the EASU is developing a module for traceability of crop production, similar to the module Vet Monitoring in the system of Identification of Farm Animals (IFA). This year it is planned to launch the traceability module in crop production in the pilot mode, next year to begin implementation.
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