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Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture wants to ban import of grain

Business Materials 26 April 2010 17:57 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 26 / Trend U. Ismayilova /

It is expected that grain production will reduce by 200,000-300,000 tons in Azerbaijan in 2010, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture department head Sabir Veliyev said on Monday.

"Azerbaijan will collect about 2,7-2,8 million tons of grain in 2010 compared to record 3 million tons in 2009," Veliyev said.

He said that this amount will be enough to fully meet the needs of Azerbaijan in foodgrains during the year. The Ministry of Agriculture is also not interested in increasing this volume.

The volume of grain production in the country should be ensured at the level of 2.8 million tons a year, but the record was broken last year.

Department head said that 147,000 hectares less than in 2009 were sowed, due to problems with sale of the local grain of the first class in 2010. It is sold at 0,10-0,12 manat per kilogram.

Local bread manufacturers prefer to buy imported grain as raw materials at the price of 0,05-0,06 manat per kg, despite the fact that these sorts of grain are 4-5 class quality, " Veliyev said.

He thinks it necessary to strengthen monitoring of the quality of bread within the protection of consumer rights.

"As a result of monitoring, a decision can be made to reduce the cost of bread, because the cost is much higher than the low cost for imported grain," Veliyev said.

He considers it reasonable to prohibit the import of grain into the country, as today Azerbaijan can meet the domestic demand for grain at the expense of domestic production.

The Cabinet of Ministers' report for 2009 said that 1,700 hectares were planted last year, of which 1,125 hectares were planted with grains and legumes, including corn, 111,700 acres - vegetables, 40,800 acres - technical plants, 360,400 hectares - fodder plants.

About 26.6 quintals of grain, or approximately 3 million tons in total were produced in each hectare of land last year.

The main importers of grain to Azerbaijan are Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

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