Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 6 / Trend A.Akhundov /
Azerbaijan needs about 156,000 tons of seeds, of which 152,000 are provided at the expense of domestic production, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Bahram Aliyev told journalists.
"But the figure will increase with increasing acreage," Aliyev said.
The cultivated area in Azerbaijan increased by 5.8 percent in 2011 (21,643 hectares).
Representatives of 24 Turkish companies operating the seed sector, the Union of Seed Producers in Turkey (TSUAB) and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock of Turkey, are on visit to Azerbaijan from Sept. 4 to Sept. 8. Baku hosted a symposium on the problems of seed production, which was attended by the delegation on Sept. 5.
"The meeting is aimed at radically changing the scope of seed production in Azerbaijan, and building a seed systems in the country," he said.
Aliyev said this meeting is of great importance in terms of Azerbaijan's integration into the global system of seed production.
Volumes of supplying seeds from Turkey to Azerbaijan could reach $10 million per year, TSUAB President Ilhami Ozcan Aygun told Trend. Turkey exported seeds totaling $100 million in 2010, with plans of increasing this figure to $500 million by 2023.
More than 500 seed companies are operating in Turkey.