Following the initiative of the Chairman of the Board of the “National Agrarian Science and Educational Center” Toleutai Rakhimbekov, scientists from the Kazakh Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute continue to conduct a series of online seminars in the format of the dialogue "scientist with core business structures."

“Kazakh Fruit and Vegetble Research Institute” LLP is a subsidiary of “National Agrarian Science and Educational Center” JSC and is a leading scientific institution in Kazakhstan that solves issues in the field of gardening.

The eighth online seminar on the topic “How can a farmer grow safe fruit and vegetable products?” Was held live on the official facebook and instagram of “KazFVRI” LLP.

The speaker was Aisakulova Khaiyrnisa Ramazanovna - candidate of biological sciences, associate professor, head of the laboratory "Agricultural chemistry and quality of fruits and vegetables". The moderator was Bozena Lozowicka- Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor, Director of the Plant Protection Institute - National Research Institute (Bialystok, Poland).

Fruits and vegetables are the main source of vitamins in the diet of people. Once they were grown in a natural environment, using only natural fertilizers, focusing on the presence of taste and benefits. However, the development of the chemical industry has equipped fruit and vegetable producers with new pest control agents, growth stimulants, ripening accelerators, preservatives, and flavorings that can harm consumers' health. Therefore, you can’t call quality fruit and vegetable products grown using pesticides.

Qualitative can be called such agricultural products, which are biologically complete in terms of the content of the basic compounds necessary for the normal functioning of the human and animal organisms, and the content of toxic substances in it does not exceed the maximum permissible concentrations.

Thus, the problem of producing high-quality food raw materials consists of two tasks: increasing its biological usefulness and reducing its content of toxic substances.

The online seminar on this topic aroused great interest among farmers, amateurs and consumers of fruits and vegetables in Kazakhstan, who actively participated in the discussion on the topic “How to grow a safe fruit and vegetable products for farmers” and also asked scientists of “KazFVRI” LLP interesting questions.

During the seminar, topical issues were discussed; prospects for growing vegetables, fruits and fruits safe for the population of Kazakhstan and occupying a certain niche in agribusiness at the international level for the supply of organic products.

How is the quality control of cultivated agricultural products put in line with accepted international standards and the republic? How was the question posed in the Republic of Kazakhstan on the use of biological methods of controlling harmful insects for crops?

At present, the standard sanitary standards for the cultivation of organic products in Kazakhstan has not yet been developed, it is only being developed and it needs to be created, drawing on the experience of other countries.

But today, our farmers themselves must orient their business to bear organic or environmentally friendly products so as not to give a negative load on their land.

Now the country's food security is being solved so far through the massive use of pesticides, which harms both the environment and the health of our population. Kazakhstani leaders of large agricultural farms are more skeptical of biomethods, believing that it is too expensive.

Meanwhile, laboratory tests of agricultural products in the markets of Almaty in the vast majority of cases give a negative result.

Hence the opinion that it is much simpler and most importantly cheaper to maintain strict control over the chemical safety of products entering the trade than to develop the agricultural bio-industry in order to switch to the use of plant protection biomethods.

This is a deeply erroneous opinion. Regular consumption of agricultural products grown with the use of pesticides, even if these products are in accordance with the sanitary standards in the country in terms of chemical content, adversely affects people's health, and often causes oncological and allergic diseases.

 Significant amounts of money are allocated annually from the state budget for chemical plant protection

At the same time, insecticides today almost no longer affect the pest, but tons of aimlessly applied drugs with a chemical fog hanging over the fields and nearby settlements turn into the most negative consequences. These consequences are well-known: environmental pollution, as well as agricultural products with pesticides, including heavy metals, nitrates, and other elements harmful to human health.

The practice of using pesticides leads to pollution of open water bodies and groundwater, soil and atmosphere, and what is no less scary, to the emergence of pest populations resistant to pesticides and the harmful effects of pesticides on the natural ecosystem.

Among chemical pollutants of the environment, persistent organic pollutants are of particular danger. These are 12 chemical compounds, of which 9 are pesticides, which scientists around the world have recognized as the most toxic and harmful to human health and life on earth in general. These are organochlorine compounds.

The website of “Kazakh-Zerno” internet media provides enough examples of why it is worth abandoning chemical methods of plant protection in favor of biomethods. Scientists all over the world have recognized 12 chemical compounds, including nine pesticides (organochlorine pollutants) as the most toxic and harmful to human health and life in general on Earth.

In our republic, about 50 species of polyphagous, over 100 types of specialized pests, more than 70 types of diseases and about 120 species of weeds are harmful to agricultural crops and pastures. And we must not forget that chemical pest control not only does not solve the problem itself, but also exacerbates it, worsening the environmental situation and causing addiction to chemical drugs in pests.

The results of our analyzes of samples of vegetables and fruits on the markets of Almaty over the past two years have shown the presence of pesticides metabolites in apples, pears, peaches, grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, dill, which are more dangerous than pesticides themselves.

Unfortunately, today our public services practically do not solve any of the tasks expressed in the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Plant Protection”. Food security of the country is solved through the massive use of pesticides, which causes persistent environmental pollution and damages the health of the population.

 With the money spent on pesticides, 50-70 biofactories could be purchased per year, saving budgetary funds and increasing the biomethod from year to year. Therefore, there is a need to replace a number of by-laws to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Plant Protection" acts.

A lot of questions were about organic fertilizer. All subscribers were interested in questions on the implementation of spring field work, despite restrictions on exit, in connection with quarantine in the republic for their summer cottages, but, despite temporary difficulties, everyone wanted to do all the work to protect them from pests and weeds behind their plants during.

The moderator shared her experience in growing organic products in the Republic of Poland and voiced some questions regarding the use of more safe pesticides.

There was a wide discussion on the use of nature-based fertilizers to produce safe fruits and vegetables and restore soil fertility of farmers' agricultural land.

Recall that everyone who is interested in agricultural business have the opportunity to ask their questions to scientists of “KazFVRI” LLP, who go live and answer all questions, as well as give their recommendations.