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Azerbaijan eyes to increase first-grade wheat production (Exclusive)

Business Materials 19 October 2018 18:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19

By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:

Azerbaijan plans to increase first-grade wheat production, Director of the Agriculture Research Center at Azerbaijan’s Agriculture Ministry Parviz Hajiyev told Trend.

He said that presently, the first-grade wheat is mainly imported from Russia for the production of bread and bakery products.

Azerbaijan annually imports 600,000 tons of first-grade wheat from the neighboring country, he noted.

“Production volumes of first-grade wheat in Azerbaijan are small, we mainly grow second and third-grade wheat,” he said. “The Azerbaijani state set certain goals and objectives to increase the production of first-grade wheat, and the Agriculture Ministry is working in this direction.”

The director noted that over the past three years, Azerbaijan has increased wheat production from 1.65 million tons to 1.8 million tons.

“Azerbaijan doesn’t produce fourth and fifth-grade wheat for animal forage, since it is unprofitable,” said Hajiyev. “It equals to ineffective using of land, therefore it is much more profitable to grow the second and third-grade wheat in these areas while importing the fourth and fifth-grade wheat. We are interested in increasing the production of first-grade wheat, as it is profitable from the point of view of economic feasibility and reduction of import supplies in the future.”

The director said that domestic production in Azerbaijan covers about 60 percent of wheat demand.

According to statistics, in 2015, wheat production in Azerbaijan amounted to 1.65 million tons, while in 2016 and 2017 each, wheat production amounted to 1.8 million tons.

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