Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept.5 / Trend, A. Akhundov /
Today there is no reason for price rise for eggs and meat in Azerbaijan, Deputy Agriculture Minister Bahram Aliyev told journalists on Monday.
"Prices of these products may grow at a strong dependence on imports, which is not observed in our country. If today the need of the country's population in meat is 340,000 tons per year, then we provide 80-85 percent of demand at the expense of domestic production," Aliyev said.
He said there is no deficiency and cannot be for these products in the country.
According to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee, for the first seven months of 2011 agricultural production in Azerbaijan increased, compared to the same period of 2010, by 10.2 percent, including crop production - by 15.1 percent, livestock - 4.8 percent.
Some 243,300 tons of meat in live weight, 941,300 tons of milk, 590.6 million eggs, 14,600 tons of wool were produced in the livestock sector for the first seven months.
Meat Production grew by 5.5 percent, milk - 8.4 percent, and wool - 6.8 percent, eggs decreased by 16.8 percent in January-July 2011 compared to the same period of 2010.
"Certain measures should be taken for speculators, who artificially overprice agricultural products. Such cases should be prevented. The Economic Development Ministry is already working in this direction," Aliyev said.
He said the Agriculture Ministry has also taken measures in this regard.
"Every weekend we organize fairs of agricultural products, where prices are 20-25 percent less than in markets. There farmers can sell their products there," Aliyev said.