Only 4.78 million hectares of areas are fit for sowing in Azerbaijan, Ismet Abbasov, the Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister, stated on Monday to an Azerbaijani-Israeli business-forum in Baku.
According to Abbasov, 1.3 million h of lands are under production of foodstuff. The share of the agrarian sphere in the structure of the GDP is 14% and over 40% of population is involved in this sector, he noted.
The minister noted the necessity of establishment of refining enterprises in the sphere of fruit-growing, vegetable-growing and juice production. There are shortages in marketing of the agrarian sector, technical capacities of the irrigation of sown areas, establishment of enterprises on production of forage for animal husbandry, he noted. Abbasov underlined that some hindrances in the development of agriculture, in particular, insufficiency of fertilizers, agriculture and irrigation technique.
The capacity of refining enterprises is very in Azerbaijan, while currently a very inconsiderable part is utilized only 2-2.5 of the entire potential, the minister concluded.