Kazakhstan Revises Farm Data, Excludes 2 Million Cattle, 3 Million Tonnes of Milk
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Kazakhstan’s Agriculture Ministry announces a revision of 2024 farm statistics, removing millions of livestock and tonnes of produce from official records, including 2 million cattle, 3.2 million sheep and goats, 3 million tonnes of milk, 1.7 million tonnes of potatoes and over 300,000 tonnes of onions. The revision stems from a joint audit that the ministry launched to verify data accuracy. The vast scale of the discrepancies casts doubt on the reliability of statistics used for allocating state support to farmers.
The Revision
Vice-Minister of Agriculture Amangaliy Berdalin disclosed the figures at the sixth meeting of the interdepartmental working group on agricultural statistics accuracy. The ministry initiated a joint audit of 2024 data, which led to the exclusion of millions of livestock and tonnes of produce. Berdalin did not specify how much of the adjustment was due to technical errors versus deliberate overstatement for subsidy claims. The discrepancy highlights potential weaknesses in the data used for national agricultural planning.
New Monitoring Systems
The working group decided to expand the list of crops monitored by satellites and to involve artificial intelligence and the scientific community from S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University. Earth remote sensing data will be integrated not only into statistics but also into agricultural insurance and subsidy control. Authorities plan to cross-check farm reports against satellite imagery and interagency data, reducing reliance on self-reported figures. The new approach aims to detect mismatches between declared and actual land use.
What's Next
The ministry is expected to broaden satellite monitoring to additional crop types in the coming months. However, it remains unclear whether past fraudulent claims for subsidies will be investigated or if penalties will be imposed.
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Kazakhstan Revises Farm Data, Excludes 2 Million Cattle, 3 Million Tonnes of Milk
