Twenty years on, farmers count the cost of the export zone

TALAS — Twenty years after the Talas Agribusiness Accord, the export zone on the western edge of the city is one of the territory's great success stories, at least by the measures its administration prefers. Its tenants, led by the SuKarne and Conagra beef plants, ship processed food by rail through Kazakhstan, and thousands of people work inside its fences.

About 220 hectares of the zone's land came from two former collective farms between the city and the airfield that became Talas Air Base. Some of their members say they never received a fair price. Compensation was paid partly in som, and several former members told the Herald that it bought far less than the land was worth. "They told us we were making way for the future," said Mukhtar Usenbaev, 71, who worked as a tractor driver on one of the farms. "The future was very cheap."

Grain farmers in the Talas valley have a newer complaint. Livestock, feed and packaging enter the zone duty-free, and farmers' associations say that tenants' imports of feed grain undercut local growers. The zone administration replies that local suppliers still provide most of the forage for the feedlots, and points to the alfalfa and fodder maize grown for them across the valley.

The zone's roads, rail sidings and power lines were paid for with territorial bonds. Its customs and tax regime was confirmed by the emergency decrees of 2007, and its administration, under the Ministry of Economy, says it is now looking for new tenants.