Azerbaijan, Baku, May 2 / Trend A. Akhundov /
The draft of the Azerbaijan's long-term economic development strategy for 2011-2025 envisages to increase the area of agricultural land per capita from about 3 hectares in 2009 to about 10 hectares in 2025.
According to the draft strategy, it is also expected to increase the value added to each hectare, from $0.6 in 2009 to $1,800 in 2025, the share of pure agriculture in total crop area of 0.45 to 10 percent and to reduce the share of agriculture in employment with a maximum of 38.4 to 20 percent.
Moreover, the country planned to increase the rate of rational consumption of meat and meat products, falling per capita, from 29 kilograms in 2009 to 70.1 kilograms in 2025, milk and dairy products - from 211 to 359.9 kg, eggs - from 128 to 243 pieces, fruit and berries - from 62 to 80.3 kilograms, vegetable oils - from 8 to 13.1 kilograms, sugar and sweets - from 30 to 36.5 kilograms, fish and fish products - from 6 to 8,3 kilograms. The projections for the norms of sustainable consumption are determined on the WHO guidelines.
It is also planned to implement the measures to stimulate the production of ecologically clean agricultural and food products to achieve food security in the country, to protect the earth from harmful substances and enhance the natural productivity, to create a market of ecological agricultural products that protect people's health by enhancing the production of safe agricultural products, as well as to form the mechanisms regulating the manufacture, import and circulation of genetically modified foods, to resolve legal and organizational issues and staff training in this area.
The planned measures include the creation of a unified database of land, climatic and geographical indices of the regions, the differentiation of the state measures on agriculture and its transfer into the target character, the protection of biological species and genetic resources, the improvement of operations on cultivation of seedlings, seed production, breeding of pedigree cattle, development of private seed production system. It is proposed to use tax and customs benefits to improve the supply of producers of machinery, fertilizer, seeds and seedlings.
The activities within the long-term strategy include developing a mechanism of compensation for damage caused by animal owners and producers of food products of animal origin caused by infectious diseases, building a plant for nitrogen fertilizers production, supporting for granting micro-credits to the agricultural sector, developing the mechanisms of guarantee and collateral, improving the regulatory base to reduce the transaction costs of agricultural financial services, regulating the seasonal price, decreasing the loss of products, creating new and alternative sales opportunities for farmers, providing the domestic market with local products any season, establishing storage facilities to protect and keep the products.
Azerbaijan also proposes to form the exchange of agricultural products. It will include exporters, importers, farmers, wholesalers, banks, insurance organizations, warehousing enterprises and trade relations between them.