ALPYSBAY TABYLDIYEV, MELON GROWER:
Our watermelons are generally exported to Russian cities, such as Chelyabinsk. A large inflow of wholesale buyers resulted in higher quality and transportability of fruits. Before last year, we used to sell our products in the Western Europe – Western China highway. My personal yield totalled 40 tonnes per hectare. Kyzylorda farmers collect about 10,000 tonnes of organic berries per 500 hectares of land every year. The farmers are growing new varieties of berries to increase productivity. Abai Korpebayev grows over 60 tonnes of Faroi F1 watermelons on one hectare of land.
ABAI KORPEBAYEV, MELON GROWER:
Large fruits weigh up to 25 kilograms and small ones weigh seven to eight kilograms. This variety has obvious advantages, such as attractive appearance, high yield, large fruits and delicious bright red flesh. It is also heat resistant and transportable. Azerbaijan, Russia and Tajikistan are the largest buyers of Kazakh fruits and vegetables. With the increase in the number of wholesale buyers, the regional specialists started calculating the accurate volumes of export products.
PIRMUKHAMED SYZDYKOV, ACTING HEAD OF AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT:
We don’t have accurate calculations of watermelons and melons before this year, but now we receive reports. It has systematized the statistics. For instance, we have data for the first five months of this year. We have sold products for US$16 million. It is 48 per cent higher compared to the same period last year. Specialists said the export sale of agricultural products in Kyzylorda region have doubled over the last five years.
Source: kazakh-tv.kz
