Farm machinery drivers in the Kostanay and Akmola regions have complained about the quality of diesel fuel being used during the height of the harvesting campaign. The diesel is waxing up, clogging filters and causing machinery to break down.
According to an account on Threads – «Agroblog.kz», one machine operator reported that diesel supplied from Atyrau is causing serious problems with machinery in the Kostanay region.
«Atyrau diesel has arrived in the Kostanay region. Someone lobbied for interests in this diesel. The tractor stalls – there's paraffin in the filters. It's sabotage by the authorities who lobbied for this diesel to be sent to the northern regions. It's plus eight degrees now, and the diesel won't work. We cover three kilometres in two hours. We heat it up – it makes no difference at all,» the message states.
Farmers in the Akmola region have faced a similar situation. According to the Telegram channel «HALYQSTAN», they reported that the diesel fuel received during the harvesting campaign as part of the guaranteed volume turned out to be unsuitable for use in the off-season conditions.
It is reported that at around zero degrees, the diesel actively waxes up, clogging filters and disabling the fuel equipment of agricultural machinery.
«We were counting on the guaranteed diesel to help finish the harvest without extra costs, but now we have downtime and additional expenses for repairs. Every hour counts, but the machinery is standing idle,» the farmers say.
According to local agricultural producers, about 60% of the allocated volume, as in the Kostanay region, came from the Atyrau Refinery.
Incidentally, this year about 94,000 tonnes of subsidised diesel fuel were allocated for the Akmola region at a price of 254 tenge per litre. In addition, the Ministry of Energy sent an extra 67,700 tonnes for drying units in several regions, including the Akmola region.
It is worth recalling that similar problems with fuel supplies have occurred before. In 2021, the prosecutor's office of the Akmola region uncovered large-scale violations in the distribution system of subsidised diesel.
At that time, the government support programme for farmers turned into a criminal scheme: fuel purchased from the budget and intended for agricultural producers ended up with pre-selected «operators».
Real farmers were often not even aware of the programme's existence, while selected companies managed unused volumes bought at reduced prices and could resell them for a profit. Read the full article on the website.
At present, it remains unclear whether the quality of current diesel fuel supplies is linked to similar schemes.