Azerbaijan, Baku, March 12 / Trend H.Valiyev /
The Azerbaijani Emergency Situations Ministry has created grain reserves in the amount of 115,000 tons, Emergency Situations Minister Kamaladdin Heydarov said today.
"Under the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers' decision, the country's annual grain reserves should be 260,000 tons," the minister added. "Today, the ministry collected 115,000 tons of grain in its rented warehouses."
According to him, the storage to stocks grain is currently under construction. So far, the ministry has commissioned a warehouse with a capacity of 30,000 tons in Nakhchivan and construction of a warehouse with a capacity of 60,000 tons in Ganja will be completed in May-June.
"We will soon complete the construction of warehouses to store grain in the Sangachal area in the Garadagh district of Baku," he added.
After the completion of these facilities, a terminal with a capacity of 100,000 tons of grain will be built in Baku.
"The reserves are created from high quality grain, as we have informed the farmers providing them with the relevant criteria," he added.
He said, presently compared to other countries, Azerbaijan pays much more attention to farmers, in particular, those involved in the grain production. They receive subsidies to cover 50 percent of payment for the purchase of fuel, fertilizer and etc. In addition, the Azerbaijani farmers are exempt from all taxes (except land tax).
Previously, the Azerbaijani Agriculture Ministry was authorized to regulate state reserves of grain and flour. Under the presidential decree dated Apr.23, 2008, the State Grain Fund transferred to the Emergency Situations Ministry.
In 2009, Azerbaijan has reached record levels in the production of grain products, which amounted to about 3mln tons of grain, taking into account the yield of maize. Azerbaijan also imports grain from Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan's annual demand in grain is 3mln tons, about one million of which is imported.
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