ERI Expert: Sustainable development of agriculture in Kazakhstan is impossible without a systematic approach to assessing the impact of climate change

For sustainable development in the agricultural sector, the expert suggests introducing a "Closed-Loop Economy".

Sustainable development of agriculture is impossible without a systematic approach to assessing the impact of climate change, says the Deputy Secretariat for Sustainable Development Goals of Economic Research Institute JSC (ERI) Yerlan Karimov.

According to him, despite the fact that special attention is paid to SDG 2 "Zero hunger" and food security in Kazakhstan, some problems of farmers remain unresolved in the country, there is a high import dependence on a number of food products (poultry meat, fish, sausage products, apples, sugar, milk powder).

"Kazakhstan is experiencing the negative impact of climate change. Thus, due to the small amount of precipitation this year, shallow water on the rivers has become a serious problem for farmers in the Atyrau, Aktobe, Kyzylorda, Mangistau and Turkestan regions. Farmers in these regions cannot feed their livestock and are in an extremely difficult situation. There is a risk of livestock deaths and rising meat prices in the country", the Expert says.

Kazakhstan has a very high potential for the development of sustainable agriculture, which can make a significant contribution to the country's economy and social stability (80% of the country's territory is characterized as agricultural land, which is more than 200 million hectares). However, only 40% or 96 million hectares of this territory are used in agricultural turnover, Yerlan Karimov added.

According to the Bureau of National Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in 2020, the share of agriculture in the country's GDP structure is insignificant , about 6%, while the share of employment in this area exceeds 13% of the working-age population.

"In this regard, there is a need to work to improve labor productivity in agriculture by introducing the principle of" closed-cycle economy", which is actively used in developed countries to promote the principle of sustainable development in agriculture."

The "Closed-Loop Economy" is a system that allows the regeneration of resources, i.e. a system in which the primary resources used and waste, emissions and energy losses are minimized by improving technological processes.

Figure 1: Processing and improving the efficiency of agricultural waste

Source: http://www.fao.org/land-water/overview/covid19/circular/en/

According to the ERI Expert, a closed-loop economy in agriculture can contribute to the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 2 Zero hunger (through sustainable food production), SDG 6 - Clean water, SDG 7 - Affordable and clean energy, SDG 12 - Responsible consumption and production, SDG 13 - Climate action and SDG 15 - Life on land.

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According to the UN, in 2020, the number of hungry people in the world has increased to 811 million people. This is 161 million more than in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious damage to the global economy and exposed the inefficiency and unreliability of existing food systems. 

"We are at war with nature, and part of this war is the existing food system, which produces a third of all greenhouse gas emissions; the food system, because of which we lose 80 percent of the planet's biodiversity," Secretary-General of UN António Guterres said at the summit in Rome. 

The UN emphasizes the need to create a new, more equitable and environmentally safe global food system that will ensure healthy, full-fledged nutrition for the entire population of the planet.