Kazakhstan businessmen visit Bootheel agriculture facilities

When you want to learn something useful, you go to the experts.

That's the theory that brought three agribusinessmen from the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan to the Missouri Bootheel on Wednesday. "They are here on a grant from the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] for development of emerging markets," said Greg Yielding, executive director of the Arkansas Rice Growers Association and representative of the US Rice Growers Producers Association.

"What the grant does is to bring people from other countries over here, as a way for us to develop our agriculture markets, and to let them see how we produce and market our crops."

Speaking at Martin Grain in Dexter, Yielding said the three men, Yermek Makhanov and Tynyshbay Dosymbekov of Kaz-Best Products in Almaty, and Murat Sarsenbayev of Abzal and Co. in Kyzylorda, were in the U.S. with a view of buying rice. "They have rice mills and grow rice, as well as wheat," Yielding said, "but they want more rice."

For seed? No, Yielding said, the three just wanted to have more to be able to sell and process for consumers.

Their translator, Alexander Simon of the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service office in Almaty, said the three men (who spoke little English) were on the last day of a visit that began in Houston, Texas in Sept. 6. After three days in Houston, the group spent two days in Stuttgart, Des Arc and Helena in Arkansas, a day in Tunica County in Mississippi and finally to Dexter, Bernie and Essex.

Simon said the visit had shown the businessmen agricultural science, grain loading and farming, grain elevators, stripper headers and various other aspects of rice farming and farming technology.

Through Simon, Makhanov said the American agricultural technology was most impressive. "And the American life styles," he said. "It's very impressive, as is the distribution system and the system of input supplies."

Dosymbekov said he found the rice producers associations extremely interesting. "I'd like to see them in Kazakhstan," he said.

Dosymbekov also said the working of scientists with farmers was extremely interesting and useful. "The new varieties and the efforts at weed control were useful also," he said. Like Makhanov, he was impressed with the technology. "And I see the American farmers are doing very well," he said with a smile.

Sarsenbayev expressed interest in the hybrid varieties of rice, and admiration for the Texas farmers. "Plant once and harvest twice!" he said through Simon.

Sarsenbayev added he had seen much that he liked in terms of rice production, milling and marketing. "We want to do it the same way," he said.

The three, along with Simon, were scheduled to leave for Kazakhstan through St. Louis today. And each invited readers to the country. "Come visit us," said Makhanov through Simon. "Yes, come visit, you'll change your views about us," added Dosymbekov.

Kazakhstan was one of the 15 constituent republics -- functionally similar to American states -- that made up the old Soviet Union. Now independent, it lies just south of Russia, bounded on the west by the Caspian Sea and the Volga River.

It borders China to the east. Almaty is its largest city.

Russian is the most widely spoken language in Kazakhstan.