GOAL ACHIEVED

Twenty years ago Azerbaijan launched a land reform that marked the beginning of market reforms in agriculture. Today, agribusiness is able to meet over 80 per cent of domestic food needs. The intensive development of the industry played a key role in reducing poverty, providing jobs for about 40 per cent of the population and eliminating the threat of famine in the country. These achievements have been repeatedly reaffirmed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The agreements recently signed with FAO put Azerbaijan on an equal footing with the advanced countries of the world. 

In 2000, at the initiative of the UN and its structural division FAO, 185 countries adopted a declaration on "Millennium Development Goals", the aim of which was to achieve a tangible decline in poverty and hunger in the world by 2015. Over the past period, the collective efforts of humanity helped increase food production, especially in developing countries, which made it possible to considerably reduce the number of starving people. According to FAO, since the beginning of the new century, the number of starving people in the world has declined by 209m. However, despite such positive developments, more than 800m people, or every ninth inhabitant of the planet, are still suffering from hunger. The most backward regions of the world are still extremely vulnerable to any natural and social disasters, or an abrupt change in market conditions.

In the new millennium, the situation is totally different in the agrarian sector of Azerbaijan. The second phase of agricultural reform, including the state programme on providing the population of Azerbaijan with food products in 2008-2015, as well as two state programmes on the socioeconomic development of regions in 2004-2008 and 2009-2013, raised the agricultural sector to a qualitatively new state of development. Subsidies, preferential loans for farmers, technical assistance to them, all-round development of processing facilities and logistics, the implementation of irrigation and other infrastructure projects freed the country from the burden of food imports. If 10 years ago food accounted for nearly a third of the total imports of Azerbaijan, today the figure is around 11 per cent. Given that in many developing countries it is close to 50 per cent, this is very good. Azerbaijani farmers and processors meet the needs of the domestic market for 80 per cent of goods, seriously increasing the volume of agricultural exports.

The greatest effect in the field of substituting imports was achieved in the area of cattle-breeding and poultry-breeding. According to FAO, by 2013 local production in Azerbaijan met 92 per cent of domestic demand. In the segment of fruits and vegetables and melon crops, local farmers also meet more than five-sixths of the needs of the country's market.

It is these successes that have been repeatedly cited by FAO experts as an example for other countries. Back in 2012, FAO included Azerbaijan on the list of states with the lowest level of hunger - less than 5 per cent. The FAO report "The State of Food and Agriculture 2014" cites Azerbaijan as a model of successful agricultural reform. For example, it noted the formation of 850,000 family farms in Azerbaijan, whose activity contributed to the elimination of the threat of famine and increasing employment.

Thus, FAO experts acknowledge that the country fulfilled the basic conditions of the declaration on the "Millennium Development Goals" in the required volume and noticeably ahead of schedule. The matter is about an increase in funding for agriculture, investments into new intensive technologies, as well as effective public and private partnership in the agricultural sector.

Based on these facts, at the upcoming conference to be held in June 2015, the FAO leadership plans to reward Azerbaijan with a special medal of the organization for efforts to ensure food security and fight famine. These successes prompted FAO to nominate Azerbaijan as a donor country. A relevant agreement was signed on 25 May in Baku. The FAO-Azerbaijan cooperation programme implies the transformation of our state into a donor country, which certainly speaks of the weighty status of our country," Minister of Agriculture Heydar Asadov said during the signing of the agreement. In the new capacity, Azerbaijan, on a par with the leading states of the world, will be involved in the conclusion of transactions and co-financing of projects in third countries with the United Nations, thus ensuring food security at the regional level.

Another agreement defines the status of the FAO office in Baku on partnership and coordination, as well as provision of technical assistance. The Baku office will cost 100,000 dollars annually, and an agreement has been reached that five Azerbaijani experts will be working here. Six Azerbaijani citizens will be sent to the central office of FAO in Rome. In turn, the agreement on the technical project, which is designed for five years and is valued at 10m dollars, will be provided on an equal basis on condition that this amount will be directed primarily at projects implemented in Azerbaijan. "In particular, the technical assistance project will focus on the creation of new irrigation systems, as well as the revision of the agreement on trans-border rivers, as their use often causes disagreements between neighbouring countries," the director of the Food and Agriculture Organization, Jose Graziano da Silva, said.

"It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan hosts not only the regional office, but also the FAO coordination and cooperation office. This shows the special status of our country, as one of the five existing FAO coordinating offices is located in Azerbaijan," said the minister of agriculture. Another significant event that expanded the potential of our cooperation with the agricultural division of the United Nations was the election of the vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva, as a goodwill ambassador of FAO.

In what key areas are the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO planning to expand cooperation in the near future?

As part of the new strategy for the development of the agricultural sector, the further increase in agricultural output in the country is linked to the expansion of exports. And FAO is ready to provide full support in this matter. "During our meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, we discussed FAO support in finding new markets for Azerbaijani agricultural products, as well as addressing potential problems in this area," Jose Graziano da Silva said. "We believe that to solve this problem, it is first of all necessary to improve the quality of agricultural products in Azerbaijan, as well as strengthen the fight against diseases that are prevalent in border areas."

For example, with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the implementation of a two-year project called "Environ-mentally friendly agriculture" was recently launched. It provides for the study of foreign markets for the export of agricultural products, selection of and support for competitive fields of plant-growing, certification of environmentally friendly products, etc.

FAO experts will be involved in the development of a national strategy for the development of cattle-breeding: this is the organization of the breeding business, the cultivation of elite species, artificial insemination of animals and protection of genetic reserves of animals. No less promising is collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the agrarian division of the UN in the implementation of the six-year programme "Improving the living standards of the rural population in the country through the development of beekeeping". The objective of this programme is to improve breeding and selection work, restore the population of Caucasian honeybees, expand their habitat and, of course, provide advice to farmers in order to expand markets for honey.

In a word, according to new joint projects, the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO specialists are going to focus on the development of the export potential of the domestic agricultural sector.

OUR REFERENCE

In the 20 years of Azerbaijan's membership in FAO, about 20 joint projects have been implemented with the support of this entity. Three national and three regional projects are being carried out in cooperation with FAO.