Azerbaijan, Baku, September 29 / Trend H. Valiyev /
The volume of grain legume crops produced in Azerbaijan will hit 2 million tons in 2010 or 30-33 percent less than in 2009, Azerbaijani Minister of Agriculture Ismet Abbasov said.
But Abbasov said that the reduction by one third may not negatively affect the economy.
"If one pays attention to statistics, the volume of food grain produced in the country amounted to about 1.3 million tons. Roughly 700,000 tons of food grain were imported to Azerbaijan until August, inclusive," Abbasov said.
He said that grain and flour have been imported up to now.
"If one takes the current production, imports and needs, one can see that grain reserves are sufficient, the minister said. The country pays special attention to this area. The reserve grain fund under the ministry operates successfully."
The fund plans to buy domestic or import about 250,000 tons of grain as reserves. The volume of stocks in the fund will be 500,000 tons. The government allocated about 50 million tons to the fund because of natural disasters.
Abbasov said that the ministry applied to the Cabinet of Ministers to abolish VAT on import of this product due to bad weather conditions that reduced grain production in June.
"But the Cabinet of Ministers makes the final decision only after the issues are coordinated with all ministries in the republic. Some ministries have found it necessary to leave the VAT in force. So, the Cabinet of Ministers did not make a decision. However, if the price for grain increases in other countries, such a decision can be made," Abbasov said.