BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 15. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) cooperates with the government of Azerbaijan on the issues of the agricultural sector and also provides support to women farmers and entrepreneurs, FAO Representative in Azerbaijan Melek Cakmak told Trend.
According to her, joint activities include projects to improve the efficiency of cattle breeding, including the conservation and development of animal genetic resources, the expansion of biodiversity, also the development of management in national parks and the involvement of young entrepreneurs in agriculture.
"In addition, we have projects related to food security. The FAO, together with the Food Safety Agency of Azerbaijan and the World Health Organization (WHO) have created a joint secretariat. New food safety standards have been created as part of this work," Cakmak said.
Also, speaking about measures in the agricultural sector, Cakmak noted that work is underway in connection with the prevention of locust invasion on crop fields.
"In addition, we have launched a project on water policy and water conservation. Drought threatens Azerbaijan due to global climate change. We have a project to develop a better irrigation strategy. We are trying to find solutions that will not harm the environment and human health," FAO representative said.
Cakmak also emphasized two EU-supported projects.
"One of them is a project to develop local products of the Gakh and Zagatala regions, develop the value chain of the region's most popular products, support the development of the local market and tourism. Another EU-supported project is to explore the possibility of introducing a single model in Azerbaijan system of agricultural advisory services and the implementation of a pilot project of this model," Chakmak added.