Since start of the year, over 1.1 million hectares of land were returned to the state. This is almost three times more than last year, Kazakh Minister of Agriculture stated. Yerbol Karashukeyev noted that the ministry registered 74 cases when employees of mayoral offices allotted land plots in violation of the legislation. At the same time, there is an acute shortage of grazing lands for livestock, which amounts to 16 million hectares. This in turn leads to the reduction of livestock and the growing social discontent in the countryside, the minister added. A commission is currently conducting 724 unscheduled inspections in respect of land users. The total audit area is 2,094,000 hectares, 48 complaints are already at the stage of registration with the Prosecutor’s Office. The state plans to return up to five million hectares of agricultural land, which are not used or were allotted in violation of the legislation, by the end of 2022.
