TODAY.AZ / Business

Azerbaijan to minimize its agriculture import

19 December 2014 [18:18] - TODAY.AZ

/AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan becoming self-sufficient as cuts food import as it ensures 78 percent of demand, said Shovket Alizada, the Head of the Azerbaijani Office of the International Humanitarian Organization Oxfam on December 19.

“The country imported 22 percent of food products. It is necessary to work to decrease this figure. Azerbaijan ensures itself by 80 percent of vegetables, fruits and meat, while many raw materials are imported from abroad (sugar-95 percent, rice-85 percent, wheat--44 percent),” Alizada said.

She also added that in order to see the further positive results, the government should develop small farms. “The government must develop small farms to increase the interest to the domestic production,” she noted.

To this end, the organization is implementing the project titled “Improvement of food security through the development of small-scale farmers”.

Azerbaijan is also preparing a law on the establishment of advisory services in the field of agriculture. "This law will create a local service that will support and advise farmers on a number of issues," Alizada stressed.

The agricultural sector is important not only for increasing Azerbaijan's export potential, but also for restoring and protecting the country's food security. Protecting the quality and price of food stuff produced in Azerbaijan and producing them in accordance with quality standards are among the main priorities of the country's food security.

Azerbaijan is meeting the population's demands for meat products by 90 percent, poultry meat by 81 percent, eggs by 80 percent, dairy products by 75 percent, vegetable oil by 65 percent, and butter by 50 percent through local production.

Over the past ten days, as a result of measures adopted in Azerbaijan to ensure food security, the production of husbandry goods has increased by 3.1 times, cattle-breeding by 3.4 times, meat production by 1.6 times, and grain production by 1.4 times.

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