OUR DAILY BREAD

The first six months of 2009 were painless for the Azerbaijani economy which grew in almost all sectors, including industry and agriculture. Work is still in progress on tackling social issues and new medical, cultural and sports facilities are coming on stream. Considerable success has also been achieved in tackling the country's food security. Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister Ismat Abbasov spoke to R+ in more detail about the state of agriculture in the republic and progress in tackling the sector's problems. 

- Minister, the grain harvest is in full swing in the republic. What can you tell us about progress in the harvest? What are the problems faced by our cereal farmers and how are they being tackled in situ? 

- Today the government has concentrated its attention on an important area, the harvest. It should be said that the harvest campaign has reached its peak; more than 3,000 combine harvesters and hundreds of lorries are working at present in the fields. We get progress reports every day from the regions; the Agrolizinq open-type joint-stock company is helping to tackle problems that may arise with machinery; repair teams set up by the company help the combine drivers to sort out problems, deliver spare parts and, when necessary, assist the harvest vehicles. The harvest is ahead of schedule and as of 6 July more than 60% of the republic's grain area had been harvested. The combines have threshed some 1,679,000 tonnes of winter barley and wheat. This is 48,200 tonnes more than last year.

You know that the republic's arable land has expanded for the first time since independence. It is now 1,079,300 hectares or 215,800 ha more than in 2008. Of this, 810,700 ha, 206,700 ha more than last year, have been sown to soft and hard wheat and by the end of the season we expect a harvest of more than 2 million tonnes of wheat. As for grain prices, they fall significantly during harvest time. However, farmers should not suffer losses. Buyers should acquire the produce from producers at higher than cost price. 

- Are you sure that our arable farmers will harvest three million tonnes of grain?

- The progress of the harvest campaign shows that in this farming year Azerbaijan will have a record grain harvest.

- Yes, the grain yield has grown so much that grain prices in the regions have fallen to 10 or 8 qapiks per kilo. The farmers are facing another issue today; what to do with the harvested grain, where to distribute it.

- You have touched on a topical issue. We have discussed the matter in the ministry and made proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers. You know that the Agriculture Ministry has a 24-hour hot line. Any issue raised by farmers or agricultural producers is tackled efficiently. We don't have the right to be indifferent towards the work of our arable farmers. In the regions where private milling groups operate the new harvest is being bought up in an organized fashion. Exporting grain to the world market is also a possibility.

- There are reports that the republic's grain store, which is operated as part of the Emergencies Ministry, has laid in soft wheat from abroad. Specialists say this is because the country's private enterprises do not have the right grade of wheat for baking. What can you say about this?

- I disagree categorically with the claims that we do not have high-grade wheat. We are tackling this issue at the moment. Last autumn, under agreement with the Academician P.P. Lukyanenko Agricultural Institute in Krasnodar Territory in the Russian Federation, more than 7,189 tonnes of high-quality wheat seed were bought and distributed amongst private seed-growing enterprises in the rural districts. Today we already have a sufficient quantity of high-grade wheat seed. This type of wheat contains high-quality protein and gluten which are necessary for baking bread. In the next few years we will have record grain harvests not only in terms of quantity but in terms of quality too.

As for the grain fund, under the law of the Azerbaijan Republic "On grain" it should be made up of nationally produced, good-quality grain.

It should be added that strategically we are entering a new level of production of grain crops. We have interested peasants in these crops which form the basis of the state food security programme, signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Today we have to support our arable farmers and do everything to preserve the whole harvest and to protect the national market for grain crops. Wheat grain must be sold at above its cost price. And in order to protect our market, the Agriculture Ministry has proposed raising customs duties on imported grain and flour. 

- It is the height of the fruit and vegetable season, but some fruit prices remain high. What is the ministry doing to maintain a balance of prices on the consumer market?

- You know that together with the ministries for economic development and health and other government agencies we hold special markets at the weekends in order to bring down the artificially high prices for foodstuffs on the republic's consumer market. Markets will be held this Saturday and Sunday to sell agricultural produce. As a rule, they are very busy; the city residents try to stock up on vegetables, fruit and animal produce for the whole week. Prices are lower than market prices. As for prices for apricots, cherry plums and peaches, these are high because there is a shortage of them, the harvest was poor. Frosts struck when the fruit trees were in blossom and killed the fruit in the bud. There is a shortage not only in the South Caucasus, but in Krasnodar Territory in Russia and in Crimea in Ukraine. As for vegetables, a record harvest of tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages, aubergines, green peppers and other cucurbits is expected this year. You can see that the capital's markets are overflowing with fruit and vegetables; they are abundant in the rural districts too and are very cheap. We forecast that this year vegetable production will exceed one million tonnes. A system is up and running to send fruit and vegetables to neighbouring countries - the Russian Federation, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan. 

- Middlemen do not allow villagers to trade freely in the capital's markets. Could the Agriculture Ministry create the right conditions to allow rural entrepreneurs to sell directly in Baku?

- I have already said that every week we hold markets to sell agricultural produce. City dwellers buy tonnes of vegetables, fruit, animal produce and poultry at these markets. Villagers come to the capital on weekdays too to sell their produce. The middlemen do deals with them. It is difficult to tackle this, but we use competition to tackle monopolies and avert artificial price increases on the consumer market. 

- There are often cases of food poisoning caused by poor-quality preserved food. Could the Agriculture Ministry take this matter under its control, as it does with the republic's market for wine?

- Not only various services of the Economic Development Ministry but also the state agency for standardization and quality monitor the quality of foodstuffs. We also closely monitor the quality of processing and production of canned fruit and vegetables. Our departments and services try to ensure that good-quality produce appears on our citizens' tables. But it does happen that we find produce well past its sell-by-date in the shops and markets. Of course, immediate action is taken in these cases.

- What can you say about the development of livestock farming?

 - This is the only agricultural sector that is in a permanent state of rapid development. According to statistics, at the start of 2009 there were almost 2.6 million head of cattle in the country which is 2.3% more than on the same date last year. The farms keep 1,242,000 cattle and water buffalo. There is also a positive dynamic in small livestock - there are more than 8.3 million head of small stock, a growth of 2.1%. 

Livestock farming developed by private farms is one of the country's most profitable areas of agriculture. Livestock farming accounts for almost half of agricultural production and by many parameters growth rates here are significantly higher than in other areas of agriculture. In 1996-2006 the average annual increase in livestock farming was almost 4-6%, and in terms of production per head of population two years ago it exceeded 20.5 kg of meat and 161.3 litres of milk. Statistics for the past decade allow us to say that the country is capable of meeting 80% of its needs for meat and produces more than one-third of the milk required (the country's annual demand for milk is 3.2 million tonnes - Author).

- As you know, Azerbaijan is preparing to join the World Trade Organization, so the quality of agricultural produce becomes key. What has been done to make the food industry's output competitive on world markets?

- The Agriculture Ministry has done a great deal of work on this and the veterinary and phytosanitary monitoring services have signed a number of agreements with international organizations and the necessary equipment to analyse plant and animal produce has been purchased and brought into the republic. Bilateral agreements on scientific, technical and economic cooperation on agriculture have been signed with Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Moldova, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Turkey. In a range of sectors in our agriculture our farmers produce output that meets international standards.

- I would like to ask about the development of such crop sectors as tea, tobacco and cotton which are in a deep crisis. What can the government do to revive them?

- As you know, almost 98% of enterprises in the agrarian sector are private farms working in free market conditions. For a number of objective reasons these areas have gone into decline. Tea and tobacco growing, which were once profitable, are now in a period of intense revival. New plantations are being laid out and promising sorts of tea and tobacco are being cultivated. As for the development of cotton, changes are under way in this sector too. Attention is concentrated on the quality of the raw cotton, on increasing its yield and on harvesting it in the volumes required to supply light industry. Over the past five years a great deal has been done to develop intensively the agro-industrial complex. We face some important challenges today, set by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the period 2009-13. For our part we will do our utmost to meet these challenges with honour and to provide top-quality agricultural produce to the public. 

- Thank you for our conversation.