On February 26, at Atlas Hotel in Dushanbe, in cooperation between the State Committee on Investment and State Property Management of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Secretariat of the Consultative Council on Improvement of Investment Climate under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan and International Trade Center there was conducted a round table on "Increasing the competitiveness of agricultural products and export capacity of the agricultural sector".
Stakeholders from respective ministries and departments, nongovernmental organizations and business network, international organizations operating in this area, presented the current condition and existing challenges in the management system of agricultural chemicals and food production in order to improve quality and competitiveness of domestic products and to attract investments in the agricultural sector.
In particular, during the opening speech of Senior Economic Consultant of Secretariat of the Consultative Council, Manuchehra Madjonova mentioned that the Chairman of the Consultative Council, the Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon gave special attention to inconsistent import and utilization of pesticides, chemicals and other biological tools in agricultural production at the last session of the Council, dated on February 12, 2020.
Therefore, adequate use of chemicals and biological tools in accordance with international standards will increase competitiveness of domestic products in the world markets and strengthen export potential of the country.
During the round table National Expert of the International Trade Center - Kosim Kurbonov, Head of Plant Protection Department of the State Institution "Plant Protection and Chemicalization of the Agricultural Sector" Vohidov Abdulmanon, Deputy Head of the Department of Veterinary Control and Breeding of the Food Security Committee, Avgonov Abduvahob, UN World Food Programme experts Masuda Saidova and Tolib Hakimov made presentations on various aspects of the use of chemical and biological approaches in stock-raising, crop production, fruit and vegetable production and state regulation in this sector.
It was mentioned that the regulatory act controlling this area - “List of chemical substances and biological tools that are permitted in the Republic of Tajikistan” was approved on June 11, 2004. Considering current requirements, the Ministry of Agriculture and experts included 256 new types of pesticides and biological tools to the updated draft list of chemicals and biological tools permitted in the Republic of Tajikistan.
In this regard, at the 20th Session of the Consultative Council the Chairman of the Consultative Council, the Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon instructed the Ministry of Agriculture, Committees for Environmental Protection, and Food Security to develop a framework for introduction of international standards, including “GLOBAL GAP”, revised “List of chemical substances permitted for use in the Republic of Tajikistan” and submitt to the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan.
In this context, it was advised to revise legal acts and sub-acts to regulate import, utilization, registration, protection, safety, storage of toxic chemicals and chemicals in general and develop recommendations for revisions and additions to the current legislation.
At the same time, establishment of laboratories for testing agricultural products for existence of chemicals and other recommendations were considered within cooperation between the public, private sectors and development partners at the group work session.
At the end of the event, it was pointed out that the results of the roundtable with active participation of the private and public sector in discussion of registration, import and utilization of chemicals in agricultural sector, sharing experience and knowledge in provision of services to farmers on utilization of pesticides and improvement of their quality and availability, and development and implementation of unified approach to improve policy and management chemicals utilization in agriculture will have significant outcome.
