BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 14. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has presented a strategic roadmap to the Azerbaijani government aimed at advancing the cooperative movement in the country, said Bariz Mehdiyev, Deputy Representative of FAO in Azerbaijan, Trend reports.
Speaking at the conference “Development of the Agricultural Cooperation Ecosystem and Entrepreneurship” during the second International Agrarian Innovation Forum, Mehdiyev emphasized the organization's ongoing support to member states, including Azerbaijan, particularly in promoting cooperative initiatives.
He emphasized the significance of the project implemented under the technical cooperation program.
"As part of the technical cooperation program, we assessed the current state of cooperatives in Azerbaijan. If I’m not mistaken, we organized informative training sessions for over sixty farmers in the Gabala, Gakh, and Sabirabad districts. Based on this, we developed a final assessment document—a strategic approach outlining how to advance the cooperative movement—and submitted it to the government as a roadmap," he said.
Mehdiyev noted that the study uncovered important insights.
"Yes, a program on rural cooperatives was adopted in 2016, and activity began slowly in 2017. But currently, there are only about 50 cooperatives in Azerbaijan.
For comparison, there are more than 40,000 agricultural cooperatives in Italy, which together contribute around 8 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Such assessments haven't yet been conducted in Azerbaijan, but FAO is ready to help bring successful global practices here.
We can also cite Türkiye as another strong example. We have taken Azerbaijani farmers to Türkiye several times for knowledge exchange. Our research also identified barriers to cooperative development in Azerbaijan, the biggest of which is land fragmentation. Small plots prevent farmers from uniting. Based on North Macedonia’s example, FAO supported the government in drafting a land consolidation program, and a concept paper has already been submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture.
At present, Karabakh offers an ideal setting to foster the cooperative movement. Land there is already being leased. We believe we can apply this as a model in Karabakh and later expand it to other regions of the country. Although this is a long-term process—possibly taking twenty to thirty years—it is essential for the development of agriculture," Mehdiyev added.
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