Analysis and Prospects for the Development of Precsion Agriculture in East Kazakhstan

This chapter examines the current state and future prospects of precision agriculture and digital technology adoption in East Kazakhstan. Agriculture plays a vital role in Kazakhstan's economy and food security, with digitalization offering significant potential to increase productivity, risk management, and export competitiveness. While Kazakhstan ranks 50th globally in economic digitalization, precision farming in East Kazakhstan remains in its early stages and is primarily utilized by large agricultural enterprises. Based on a survey of over 500 agricultural organizations and farms in the region, 75% of respondents do not use precision farming technologies, and 10% are unfamiliar with them. Among the 15% who apply digital solutions, the most popular technologies include unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) monitoring (52%), GPS parallel driving (43%), and agrochemical charting (37%). Major obstacles constraining digital adoption include high equipment costs and depreciation, weak rural internet connectivity, a shortage of qualified specialists, lack of practical experience, and limited awareness. Nevertheless, 90% of surveyed farmers expressed willingness to learn and implement digital innovations. To accelerate development, the authors recommend financial incentives like state subsidies and tax reductions, university and international research collaborations, targeted training seminars, and the aggregation of agricultural data into a unified digital information platform.