Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 1 / Trend , A.Akhundov /
The Azerbaijani Agriculture Ministry does not see the need to increase the cultivated area in 2012, Minister Ismat Abbasov told reporters on Tuesday.
"The cultivated area currently available for Azerbaijan is sufficient. However, the effective use of these areas is very important. The yield rose by 5.2 percent in 2011 compared to 2010," he said.
The cultivated area in Azerbaijan increased by 5.8 percent, or 21,643 hectares in 2011. The country has made spring sowing plants in an area of 397,297hectares.
Abbasov stressed that the ministry aims to achieve annual growth of production for each type of agricultural production by ten percent.
In the first nine months of this year, agricultural production increased by 7.6 percent, including crop production by 10.6 percent, and livestock by 3.7 percent.
The ministry plans to increase the average productivity of agricultural crop by more than 50 quintal per hectare in 2012, Deputy Agriculture Minister Bahram Aliyev said earlier.
"Although the figure already reached 50-60 quintals per hectare, the average productivity of the agriculture crop is less than 25 quintals per hectare in Azerbaijan. Our primary goal is to bring the figure up to 50 quintal per hectare," Aliyev said.
He said the country began to use new technologies that increase production, and save water and fertilizer. Also, new varieties of crops are imported with higher productivity.
"Today the country realizes specific projects. The planting of seeds with high productivity yields, introducing a new planting system and increasing care for the protection of plants are among the main conditions for developing new technologies and cultivating agricultural crops," Aliyev said.
He said unpredictable climate changes should also be taken into account.