Revitalizing Animal Husbandry

With a surge in urban incomes, demand for livestock products in the Central Asian region is increasing. Will Kyrgyzstan further tap into this window of growing opportunity? This remains a question without a unanimous answer;  despite agriculture occupying a large share in GDP, a suitable development strategy is vital for boosting the livestock sector and integrating existing producers with modern day value chains.

To uncover reasons behind low supply of meat and dairy products, The Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) launched the Central Asian Livestock Recovery Project covering all of the CA5 countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The project’s key focus areas encompassed deconstructing reasons behind the low supply of meat and dairy products to develop solutions for increased productivity and export.

The project includes empirical case studies from its three focus countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.  UCA’s Institution of Public Policy and Administration (IPPA) is committed towards achieving the project’s goal in Kyrgyzstan. IPPA’s study focuses on milk and dairy product value chain analysis. Following its source in rural areas, the analysis traces the changes in price of milk from source to procurement by factories of milk suppliers.

A startling revelation has surfaced from conversations with villagers in Chui oblast. It is observed that villagers could only donate milk to a sole collector and have to decline offers of higher prices made by other collectors. The market functions contrary to the foundational principles of a market pricing system.

The efforts of this research project concludes with insightful findings for enhancing productivity and efficiency of the livestock and dairy sector. Based on results, researchers emphasize the collection of good quality milk to achieve the main goal of boosting exports. Research results present recommendations for policy practitioners, producers, and future research to find environmentally sustainable solutions in the face of pasture and environmental degradation.