YEAR OF BREAD

As one of the most developed sectors of the non-oil economy, agriculture has long taken a strong position in production growth. This is also evidenced by statistics: in the first six months of the current year, the volume of agricultural production increased by 5%, and in some areas of plant growing this figure was twice as high.

Harvest forecast

The country has been implementing a comprehensive plan over the past five years to reform the agro-industrial complex in order to ensure the country's food security. The government fully encourages an increase in agricultural production through subsidies and concessional loans to farmers. "In 2003-2013, agricultural subsidies worth more than 587 million manats were allocated to farmers within the framework of direct state support," Minister of Agriculture Ismat Abbasov said recently. "In the same 10 years, the Aqrolizinq joint-stock company was provided with more than 427 million manats for purchasing agricultural machinery and special equipment, for importing pedigree cattle and for forming a modern logistics base." And quite an impressive fleet of vehicles is available for agricultural producers to rent with the opportunity to buy them with a 50% discount on leasing schemes, which is the main factor of support for the majority of small farms that provided a significant increase in crop production and animal husbandry.

The accelerated pace of the development of the agricultural sector is also largely due to the active work of the National Fund to Support Entrepreneurship (NFSE), which allocated about 1.1 billion manats in soft loans in the past decade. According to the practice established in the last few years, 80% of the allocated funds fall to rural areas, and three-quarters of concessional loans are allocated to farmers and processors of agricultural products.

The results of these diverse activities by the government are reflected in the annual increase in production in the agricultural sector. According to the State Statistics Committee, in January-June this year, the country produced agricultural products to the tune of 2.123 billion manats, which is 4.9% higher than last year's figures. In particular, a 5.15% growth was secured in the field of animal husbandry, while the volume of production in the plant growing increased by an average of 4.5%.

In general, according to forecasts of the Ministry of Agriculture, a 7.6% growth can be achieved in agricultural production by the end of the year, and high growth rates cover the most important areas of the industry. There are rather optimistic forecasts about the harvest for gardeners and producers of the "second bread": in comparison with the same period last year, production of potato increased by 11.8%, vegetables - by 8.8% and green tea leaves - by 4%.

This year, the country's projected production is approximately 850,000 tonnes of fruit and about 1 million tonnes of vegetables - as a result, it is 7-9% higher than last year's figures. If we consider that the country's average annual need for fresh fruit is estimated at 450,000 tonnes, respectively, half of the harvest can be sent to processing plants for further export.

Grain self-sufficiency

However, the most important achievement of the year can be the harvest of no less than 2.9 million tonnes of grain, which is 100,000 tonnes more than last year. It is noteworthy that the projects to set up large agrarian complexes, which is being implemented in the country, will make it possible to achieve full self-sufficiency in grain in the shortest possible time, i.e. fulfill the most important goal - the state food security programme adopted five years ago.

"In recent years, Azerbaijan has achieved considerable success in food security - in some areas we are approaching the 100-per-cent level of self-sufficiency. One of these areas should be the production of grain," Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said at a recent meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. "We still have lands that have not been put in agricultural circulation, and here we are carrying out land reclamation and other farming activities phase by phase. About 5,000 hectares of land have already been put in circulation, and the yield there is twice the industry average."

In order to form specialized agrarian grain complexes, about 200,000-300,000 hectares have been allocated in the country. The first such farms were formed last year in Beylaqan and Agcabadi districts. Modern technologies of reclamation and irrigation are being used in a plot of 4,800 hectares allocated here, and in order to deliver water from the Upper Karabakh irrigation canal, tens of kilometres of irrigation canals have been laid, reclamation work has been completed and modern drip irrigation systems are being constructed. In particular, mobile American-made sprinklers that irrigate over 100 hectares of fields per day are being used. This method not only saves water, fertilizers, fuel and energy, but also helps to prevent soil erosion and reduce the probability of crop losses due to diseases and weeds.

The listed infrastructure measures are being carried out mainly with the help of state investment.

In accordance with the investment project, a grain elevator has been built at the agrarian complex, the construction of a livestock complex and mini-factories for the production of vegetable oils is continuing, and a company of agrarian services is being created.

The positive results of the measures taken were not long in coming: by the end of June this year, over 10,000 tonnes of high-quality wheat was harvested from an area of about 1.9 hectares, and thus a record level of productivity was achieved - 55 quintals per hectare. Most of the grain collected in specialized agrarian complexes will be handed over to the State Grain Fund.

World practice shows that large commercial farms are generally more cost-effective precisely in the production of cereal crops, and today they account for over 65% of global grain production. It is easier for a large farm to borrow money to buy high-performance equipment in leasing and then sell grain in large quantities, not to mention the fact that the cost of working on grain fields with harvesters and tractors and irrigation activities is appreciably lower if agricultural activities are carried out on large areas.

To completely ensure food security in Azerbaijan, 40-50 more such large private grain farms will be created in the next year or two. In parallel with the formation of large complexes, the state will continue to encourage small farms growing wheat. The increase in the volume of non-repayable financial support will, first of all, affect the farms that ensure the production of high-quality (hard) kinds of wheat and have the appropriate quality certificates for these products. All these measures have one main goal - to increase the country's grain fields to 1 million hectares and the sustainable annual harvest of wheat to more than two million tonnes.

According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Agriculture, the commissioning of large agrarian complexes will make it possible to harvest at least 3.5 million tonnes of cereals each year, which means that in the next year or two, the volume of production in the country will exceed the predicted threshold of food security - about 3 million tonnes of grain.