Tajikistan Plans to Grow Oilseed Crops on Land in Kazakhstan and Russia

The authorities of Tajikistan are considering the possibility of cultivating oilseed crops in Kazakhstan and Russia. The harvested raw materials would then be transported to Tajikistan for processing at domestic enterprises. This was announced by Tajikistan's Minister of Industry and New Technologies, Sherali Kabir, as reported by Asia-Plus.

According to the minister, one of the main challenges facing the country's vegetable oil industry is the shortage of domestically produced raw materials. Due to limited agricultural land, Tajikistan is forced to import most of its oilseed raw materials from Kazakhstan and Russia.

Sherali Kabir said that the President of Tajikistan had instructed officials to discuss with the Kazakh side the possibility of allocating land plots to Tajik farmers for cultivating oilseed crops.

He also noted that the leadership of Bashkortostan had expressed its willingness to provide agricultural land for growing oilseed crops. The harvested raw materials would then be delivered to Tajikistan for processing at local enterprises.

The minister emphasized that Tajikistan has sufficient processing capacity, but many plants are operating below capacity because of raw material shortages, high logistics costs, and difficulties competing in the market.

According to him, cultivating oilseed crops outside the country should provide domestic processors with the necessary raw materials and increase vegetable oil production within Tajikistan.

Earlier, Sherali Kabir stated that domestic production covers only slightly more than 21% of the country's demand for vegetable oil. Although annual demand exceeds 150,000 tonnes, the country's 72 processing enterprises are capable of producing only 25,000–30,000 tonnes per year.

The main obstacle remains the shortage of raw materials. Producing 100,000 tonnes of vegetable oil requires approximately 833,000 tonnes of oilseed crops, while the total harvest of flax, safflower, rapeseed, sunflower, sesame, and other oilseed crops in Tajikistan does not reach 100,000 tonnes.

As a result, Tajikistan spends around US$170–180 million annually on vegetable oil imports. Kazakhstan and Russia remain the country's main suppliers. The parties have also previously discussed establishing a joint venture to process raw materials supplied from both countries.