Astana, 13 November. The number of agricultural enterprises in Kazakhstan grew from 9,500 to 21,000 between the two agricultural censuses, those of 2006–2007 and 2025, the Bureau of National Statistics said as it published the results of the 2025 National Agricultural Census.
The census ran from 1 August to 20 October 2025 with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). According to the bureau, it is the first survey of the agricultural sector on this scale in almost 20 years. It covered about 290,000 agricultural formations and 1.7 million household plots, that is, 97% of both.
Agricultural formations are what the statistics call organised producers: agricultural enterprises, peasant and farm holdings and individual entrepreneurs. A household plot is a family that keeps livestock or a vegetable garden primarily for its own needs. Between the censuses the number of agricultural formations rose by 42%: 290,000 against 204,000. Besides enterprises, the number of peasant and farm holdings together with individual entrepreneurs also grew: from 194,000 to 269,000.
The sown area increased from 18.3 million to 23.2 million hectares. What grows on it has changed too. The share of cereals fell from 81% to 69%, while the share of oilseeds rose from 4% to 17%.
The biggest change was in livestock farming. According to the previous census, agricultural formations accounted for 20% of the herd, and in 2025 their share reached 68%; household plots were left with 32%. The herd is counted in conventional head: a unit to which different animals are converted so that a cow, a sheep and a horse can be added into one total.
The census also provided information about people and machinery. About 707,000 people are employed in the organised sector. Of the self-propelled agricultural machinery recorded, 57% has been in service for more than 10 years.
The data were collected digitally. Online, 92% of agricultural formations and 19% of household plots completed the census, and during visits interviewers filled in the census forms on tablets. The results are posted on a separate website: it has interactive dashboards, tables for download and a statistical compendium. Besides the main indicators, information has been published on agricultural technologies and digital solutions, cooperation, and access to financing and infrastructure.
On the same day the bureau presented the results to industry associations. “We have received data on the number of holdings engaged in crop and livestock farming, on subsidy coverage, on the availability of agricultural machinery and on employment in agriculture. Such information is necessary for planning and for assessing the situation,” said Yermek Abuov, first deputy chairman of the management board of the Association of Farmers of Kazakhstan.
What it means: In almost twenty years Kazakhstan’s agriculture has shifted from the household yard to the organised producer. Livestock, four fifths of which used to be kept by household plots, is now two thirds in the hands of enterprises and farmers, and in the fields cereals have given ground to oilseeds.
Who benefits: The bureau names three recipients of the data: government bodies will be able to plan support measures more precisely, business to assess the needs of agricultural producers, and researchers to study changes in the sector. Farmers, according to Abuov, need the information for planning.
Background: The previous agricultural census in Kazakhstan took place in 2006–2007. The Bureau of National Statistics is part of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms. The Ministry of Agriculture also set out the census results on the same day.
