Bradt Travel Guide: Kazakhstan, Paul Brummell, Bradt Travel Guides, 2012, ISBN 978-1-84162-369-6, ... in early 1954 the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev launched into an attack on the state of Soviet agriculture ... major shortage of grain ... plan was drawn up to plough 40 million hectares of virgin steppe in Kazakhstan and western Siberia ... first train into Akmola bringing volunteers for the new scheme arrived from Almaty on 2 मार्च 1954 ...