BREADWINNER LAND

In recent years, measures taken by the state play an important role in the transition of the agricultural sector of Azerbaijan from extensive to intensive development. For example, in the first half of 2014 the growth in agriculture was nearly 6 per cent. It is also noteworthy that in the report of the World Economic Forum, Azerbaijan in 2013-2014 moved up 21 steps in the "value of agricultural policy" index (used to determine the effect of state support on higher prices for products) compared with the previous report and took 49th place among 148 countries.

The country is implementing a number of significant projects in the agricultural sector. In particular, large farms that have already proven their viability are being created. For example, the yield of 1 ha of land in agricultural enterprises, according to the State Statistics Committee, is on average 1.92 times higher than the yield of farms. On the other hand, if labour productivity at agricultural enterprises in 2012 amounted to 16,400 manats, in farms the figure was only 2,900 manats.

The government hopes that significant results can be achieved after the start of the implementation of the "Strategy for the development of the agro-industrial complex of Azerbaijan", which reflects the basic principles of agricultural policy and strategic goals and priorities for the development of agriculture on the basis of techniques proposed by international experts invited from the European Union. In the meantime, the draft document was discussed by the majority of international experts and submitted to the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan.

So, what problems need to be addressed first of all in the agricultural sector today and how to improve the efficiency of farms and productivity in the fields?

Under current conditions, Azerbaijani farmers rejoice when they get 25 quintals of wheat per ha, economist Oqtay Haqverdiyev laments. "In the West farmers get 75-90 quintals of wheat per ha. In Azerbaijan it is also possible to achieve high yields. But to this end, the agrarian sector should be approached from a scientific point of view and institutional reforms should be carried out. And farmers themselves need to take the initiative, come together and create large-scale farms. In this scenario, farmers will have a stable financial base, and they will be able to funnel funds into modern technologies in the agricultural sector," the economist said in conversation with R+. 

In addition, the intensive development of agriculture is hindered by the relatively small area of land owned by farmers. In Azerbaijan, each individual farm has 19.3 hectares of agricultural land on average.

The use of agricultural equipment in small areas is not profitable for farmers. "If the land area is less than 10 ha, it is unprofitable to use agricultural equipment. Theoretically, if all problems in the agricultural sector are resolved, we can produce 3-4 times more products," Oqtay Haqverdiyev says.

A slightly different view is shared by our scientists. According to their calculations, the potential of Azerbaijan makes it possible to produce 5 times more agricultural products than the current indicators. But to ensure sustainable and long-term development, a number of important issues must be addressed. This is primarily problems in the land reclamation sector, says the general director of the agro-scientific centre, Asad Musayev. "In the 1970s, there were only 400,000 ha of saline lands in Azerbaijan. At this point, according to recent data, approximately 1m ha of land is saline due to the destruction of canals and drainage systems. This trend suggests that the amount of saline land in the country is increasing," said the scientist. According to Musayev, the problem is also that after privatization the population partially destroyed the reclamation infrastructure that was created during the Soviet era. Closed drains were used in Azerbaijan at the time. "For example, in Saatli there is an area where the closed drains were created at the time of tsarist Russia and operate to this day. But, unfortunately, in the 1990s closed drains were partially destroyed by farmers, while the absence of the reclamation infrastructure increases the cost of agricultural production. Currently reclamation work is closely monitored by the state. For these purposes, the state budget allocated 250m manats this year. Close monitoring by relevant government agencies is needed for the targeted use of the funds," Musayev told R+.

Another obstacle to the growth of production in the agricultural sector is the inefficient use of water resources, says Musayev. "In this regard, farmers must move to more efficient and cost-effective methods of irrigation. For example, you can use drip irrigation, furrow irrigation and sprinkler irrigation. Farmers often do not understand the consequences and release water to farmland unchecked. After such inefficient irrigation work, the soil becomes saline again. Excess water can rise to the groundwater level, and subsequently arable land may become unusable. Currently the irrigation conditions of Azerbaijan require fundamentally new approaches to the cultivation of cereal grains through the use of raised bed technology, which makes it possible to achieve potentialities, new intensive varieties of winter wheat, the rational use of land and water resources and conservation and improvement of soil fertility. The introduction of resource-saving technologies in the irrigated conditions of Azerbaijan will give us the opportunity to get two harvests in one crop year in low-lying parts of the republic. The soil and climatic conditions of these zones allow Azerbaijan to implement the abovementioned technologies on about 400,000 ha and get a secondary harvest of soybeans, corn, millet, sunflower, vegetable and other crops. The introduction of resource-saving technologies and high yield of crops, as well as the rational use of land will help in addressing the issue of food security in the country," said the scientist.

Asad Musayev also noted that the overall development of agriculture can be achieved through use of the existing potential of mountain and foothill regions of the country: "Because of the insufficient application of advanced technology, yields are considerably lower there. Most of the land eroded, while the geobotanical composition of pastures also deteriorated. To solve the problems the following measures are proposed: introduction of mountain and terrace farming; implementation of measures to combat erosion (planting crops across the width of the slopes); cultivation of perennial herbaceous plants (alfalfa, sainfoin, etc.), as well as spring barley and millet; planting of shelterbelts; development of viticulture and fruit growing in the terraces; development of tobacco and potato cultivation; development of sheep-breeding, domestic livestock and beekeeping; creation of mini-reservoirs on hillsides for the effective use of rain and snow water."

In addition, you should also pay attention to the issue of privatization and misuse of agricultural land, the scientist added: "Some of suitable agricultural land has been privatized for housing construction. Infrastructure is being built in other lands. Meanwhile, in Europe agricultural land is monitored very strictly. Only land unsuitable for agriculture is used for housing construction. This question is also important for the growth of production in the agricultural sector."

In turn, the director of the Genetic Resources Institute of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences, Zeynal Akbarov, deems it necessary to control the use of varieties of grains imported from abroad, "The importation of these varieties is explained by the fact that they give high yields in other countries. But the climate of Azerbaijan has its own specific features. In this regard, it is more appropriate to use varieties produced by Azerbaijani scientists based on local soil and climatic characteristics. Although domestic agricultural science has a lot of problems, Azerbaijan has a strong tradition in this area. However, many of the achievements of our scientists are not used and are far from the local farmer. In order to ensure that domestic science really contributes to food security, it is necessary to radically reform the science-production-study system, modernize research institutions, strengthen the human and material-technical base of agricultural science and increase the potential for modern, including molecular-genetic studies."

At the same time, the country must pass a law "On Agriculture", which should allocate a special place to agricultural science, Akbarov says. "In order to implement this law, a National Council for the coordination and management of agricultural research should be established at the ANAS. It is important to revisit the mandates, research areas and the structure of most agricultural scientific research institutions. At the same time, there is a need to reconstruct the system of work with farmers and the collection and dissemination of information," he says.

Thus, Azerbaijan can not only totally provide itself with agricultural products, but also become a major exporter, the researcher explains. This, in turn, means the creation of an additional source for foreign exchange earnings.