On April 27, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting on the implementation of projects and improving the quality of education in agriculture.

The agricultural sector in Uzbekistan is an important source of food products, jobs and income. Over the past five years, 2.5 billion foreign loans have been attracted to the sphere. To date, about 4 thousand projects have been implemented worth $1.7 billion. Modern greenhouses, intensive gardens, farms for harvesting seedlings and cold storage have been created.

Measures for the efficient use of funds attracted from international financial institutions, accelerate the implementation of projects were discussed at the meeting.

Today, 580 new projects worth $400 million have been developed. But their implementation is delayed due to short loan terms or a shortage of specialists.

In this regard, the Ministry of Agriculture will be granted the right to launch projects itself and sell them on leasing terms.

In particular, this year it is planned to create about 2 thousand hectares of intensive orchards and vineyards in 6 regions, open 17 small agro-logistics centers with a total capacity of 115 thousand tons. They will be sold to entrepreneurs in a ready-made form based on leasing.

The Head of the state gave instructions on the development of industry services, online monitoring of crops and water consumption.

It was noted that this year, agricultural service centers, providing over 100 services, will be created in Andijan, Namangan, Fergana, Jizzakh, Samarkand and Khorezm regions. Modern laboratories with foreign specialists will operate in the centers. Management of funds allocated to projects, as well as electronic accounting of land and crops, monitoring of irrigation and yield will be established here.

The Ministry of Agriculture was instructed to develop action plans in the context of the regions and organize their implementation on the spot.

The issue of the quality of education in the agricultural sector was also considered at the meeting.

In the 2022-2023 academic year, it is planned to establish an International Agricultural University. The President noted the need for attracting foreign teachers and improving the skills of local pedagogues.

Tashkent State Agrarian University has attracted loans and grants worth $17 million. Thanks to this, the university laboratory will be equipped with 129 types of modern equipment, and new experimental sites will be created in 20 areas, such as horticulture, vegetable growing, animal husbandry, mechanization, and food industry, with the involvement of foreign specialists.

The Head of the state emphasized the importance of training middle-level specialists in the industry. To do this, it is necessary to ensure the interaction of colleges and technical schools with industry universities. Responsible ministries were instructed to review the curricula, textbooks, and the system of practice of these educational institutions by the requirements of the industrial enterprises.

UzA