Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19
By Matanat Nasibova – Trend:
Azerbaijan currently satisfies the domestic demand for meat and meat products by 80 percent, and in the next year or two it will reach 90-100 percent of self-sufficiency, which could significantly reduce the import of this type of products from abroad, Parviz Hajiyev, Director of the Center for Agricultural Research under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture, told Trend Oct. 18.
He noted that over the past three years, Azerbaijan has mainly imported meat from India and Ukraine.
"At the moment we do not import meat from India, but there are imports from Ukraine and Georgia. Nevertheless, the import deliveries in the specified period significantly differed. In particular, the meat imports in 2015 amounted to 17,000 tons, in 2016 – to 41,000 tons, in 2017 – to 58,000 tons. However, the increased production in the country gives us reason to believe that meat imports to Azerbaijan from abroad will decline in the coming years,” he said.
According to forecasts of the ministry, by end 2018, the meat production is projected at 316,000 tons, in 2019 – at 320,300 tons, in 2020 – at 327,000 tons, in 2021 – at 334,500 tons.