Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited the agrological complex of BMB Holding in Sharaf-Rashidov district of Jizzakh region.

Uzbekistan has high potential in the field of export of agricultural products. Agricultural centers play an important role here, covering all stages of harvesting, storage, processing and sale of crops.

Among them is the BMB Holding complex, launched in December last year. The total cost of the project exceeds US$57 million. The complex has the ability to store 10 thousand tons and process 8 thousand tons of agricultural products per year. 180 people are permanently employed here.

The head of state inspected the work process at the enterprise and the products ready for export.

Fruits and vegetables arrive at the logistics center from Jizzakh region and neighboring regions. Last year, the agricultural cluster of the BMB Holding system entered into contracts with more than 1,200 farmers for the supply of over 52 thousand tons of crops.

This year, based on the experience of Saykhunabad, cooperation will be established with 2,485 households. Agricultural products will also be grown on 14.5 thousand hectares of land from about 4 thousand farms. As a result, more than 32 thousand seasonal jobs will be created in the cluster system.

The complex includes phytosanitary and sanitary-epidemiological laboratories, customs point and a bank branch, and a dormitory. The laboratory is equipped with 34 modern instruments from Russia, China, the USA and Germany.

Here the products undergo quarantine control. It is important that the phytosanitary certificates issued are recognized in 119 countries.

Such opportunities increase the company’s export potential and geography. To date, almost US$43 million worth of products have been sent to Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia and China. According to plans, this year the export volume should reach US$58 million.

The President emphasized the need to create similar agrological centers in other regions, assigning certain fields and mahallas to them, which will ensure a sufficient volume of raw materials for entrepreneurs and guaranteed purchase of products from the population.

It is worth noting that the company, founded in 2017, today includes 4 joint ventures and 26 subsidiaries implementing investment projects worth almost US$1.5 billion.

In particular, the Uzbek-Italian joint venture BMB Opera Zafferano created a saffron plantation with an area of 400 hectares. The manufactured products are USDA ORGANIC certified and are exported to Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, France, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and other countries. Also received FDA clearance to enter the US market.

In the next three years, it is planned to increase investments in the project to 80 million euros, saffron production - from 1.8 tons to 20 tons. The head of state approved these plans and gave instructions to increase the area of saffron cultivation and its export.