Urgent tasks in food security and energy supply were identified

On August 11, in the city of Bukhara, under the chairmanship of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a videoconference was held on ensuring price stability through an increase in food production and a guaranteed supply of energy resources to the population and sectors of the economy, the press service of the head of our state reports.

Severe winters and abnormally hot weather in summer have caused a number of problems. Therefore, already now it is necessary to prepare for the coming winter, form a sufficient reserve of food and ensure the stability of the energy system, it was noted at the meeting.

In recent years, due to the reduction of sown areas for cotton and grain, 200 thousand hectares of land for agriculture have been allocated to the population, which has become an important factor in increasing food production. As a result, 700 thousand people were provided with permanent, another 1.3 million people with seasonal work. Income of 605 thousand farmers increased. There is a growing number of districts providing themselves with potatoes, onions and carrots.

At the same time, many districts and cities receive vegetables, meat and eggs from other regions. Khokims fail to properly organize the use of allocated land.

Therefore, the head of state announced new initiatives in this direction. It was determined that from now on the lease term of 73,000 hectares of land allocated for 10 years will be extended to 30 years. 100 thousand hectares of unused pastures will be allowed to be leased to the population with livestock for a period of 10 years, the area of ​​one plot will be at least 10 hectares. When issuing land to the needy population included in the “Register of Social Protection”, it will be exempted from paying all types of land payments.

An instruction was given to replace the plots that did not arouse interest among the population with lands close to water sources and settlements, to put up new sown lands for transparent auctions.

It was emphasized that this will make it possible to procure 1 million tons of products and provide an additional 800,000 people with income.

The implementation of the program for growing grapes, pumpkins, melons, watermelon and vegetable crops along the edges of the fields, harvesting 220 thousand tons of additional products, keeping 600 thousand heads of poultry and 300 thousand bee hives was considered.

It was noted that containment of price growth should be carried out by expanding the cultivation of secondary crops and increasing production volumes.

In recent years, the area of greenhouses in the country has tripled, and the volume of products grown in them – from 90,000 to 300,000 tons. They employ 150,000 people in highly paid jobs.

In this regard, the importance of an uninterrupted supply of fuel to greenhouses in the autumn-winter season, as well as, if necessary, the allocation of loans for its purchase, was pointed out.

The meeting also discussed the tasks of guaranteed energy supply for the population and sectors of the economy.

A lot of work is being done in our country to develop “green” energy and introduce energy-saving technologies into the economy.

Over the past period, 430 MW of renewable energy sources have been put into operation. Due to this, 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity are generated per year, which is equal to 60 percent of the annual consumption of social facilities.

To date, solar panels with a capacity of 250 MW have been installed in social and business facilities, in the homes of the population.

At the same time, the urgency of saving energy resources is growing. The need to save 3.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas by the end of the year was emphasized.

The task was set to extract 30 billion cubic meters of gas in the second half of the year, increase reserves in underground gas storage facilities to at least 3.5 billion cubic meters, and produce 41 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.

An instruction was given to completely repair electrical networks and transformers, to strengthen discipline in the sphere of energy consumption.