On August 11, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a videoconference on ensuring price stability through an increase in food production and a guaranteed supply of energy resources to the population and sectors of the economy in Bukhara.
As was noted at the meeting, severe winter and abnormally hot weather in summer have caused several problems. Therefore, already now, it is necessary to prepare for the coming winter, form a sufficient reserve of food, and ensure the stability of the energy system.
In recent years, due to the reduction of sown areas for cotton and grain, 200 thousand hectares of agricultural land have been allocated to the population, which has become an essential factor in increasing food production. As a result, 700 thousand people were provided with permanent, and another 1.3 million had seasonal work. The income of 605 thousand farmers increased. There is a growing number of districts providing themselves with potatoes, onions, and carrots.
At the same time, many districts and cities receive vegetables, meat, and eggs from other regions. The khokims need to organize the use of allocated land properly.
Therefore, the President announced new initiatives in this direction. It was determined that from now on, the lease term of 73 thousand hectares of land allocated for 10 years will be extended to 30 years. 100 thousand hectares of unused pastures will be leased to the population with livestock for 10 years. The area of one plot will be at least 10 hectares. When issuing land to the needy population included in the “Register of Social Protection”, it will be exempted from paying all land payments.
An instruction was given to replace the plots that did not arouse interest among the population with lands close to water sources and settlements, to put up new sown lands for transparent auctions.
It was emphasized that this would make it possible to procure 1 million tons of products and provide an additional 800 thousand people with income.
The implementation of the program for growing grapes, pumpkins, melons, watermelon, and vegetable crops along the edges of the fields, harvesting 220 thousand tons of additional products, and keeping 600 thousand heads of poultry and 300 thousand bee hives was considered.
It was noted that containment of price growth should be carried out by expanding the cultivation of secondary crops and increasing production volumes.
The country’s greenhouses area has tripled in recent years and the volume of products grown in them – from 90 thousand to 300 thousand tons. They employ 150 thousand people in high paid-jobs.
In this regard, the importance of an uninterrupted fuel supply to greenhouses in the autumn-winter season and, if necessary, the allocation of loans for its purchase was noted.
The tasks of guaranteed energy supply for the population and sectors of the economy were also discussed at the meeting.
Much work is being carried out in Uzbekistan to develop green energy and introduce energy-saving technologies into the economy.
Over the past period, 430 MW of renewable energy sources have been implemented. Due to this, 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity are generated per year, equal to 60 percent of the annual consumption of social facilities.
To date, solar panels with a capacity of 250 MW have been installed in social and business facilities and in the homes of the population.
At the same time, the urgency of saving energy resources is growing. The need to save 3.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas by the end of the year was emphasized.
The task was set to extract 30 billion cubic meters of gas in the second half of the year, increase reserves in underground gas storage facilities to at least 3.5 billion cubic meters, and produce 41 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
An instruction was given to completely repair electrical networks and transformers, to strengthen discipline in energy consumption.