BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 25
By Zeyni Jafarov - Trend:
Current private investments in agricultural parks of Azerbaijan make up 1.2 billion manat, Trend reports citing the Ministry of Economy.
The Entrepreneurship Development Fund of Azerbaijan issued concessional loans worth 173 million manat ($86.4 million) for the creation of 23 agricultural parks, and investment incentive documents worth up to 1 billion manat ($588 million) were issued to 27 agricultural parks, the ministry said.
“Along with this, 25 agricultural parks that received an investment promotion document were issued many confirming documents for the import of machinery, technological equipment and installations, and according to these documents, agricultural parks received benefits in the amount of 32.8 million manat ($19.3 million),” said the report of the ministry.
The report also reads that modern irrigation systems are widely used to increase yields in agricultural parks.
In 43 operating agricultural parks, out of 80,000 hectares of irrigated land, about 40,000 hectares are irrigated using a rotary irrigation system, 7,000 hectares - a drip system, 2,000 hectares - a sprinkler irrigation system, and 31,000 - using traditional methods, the report said.
"Agricultural parks also play an important role in increasing employment. Currently, a total of about 4,750 people work in agricultural parks, and more than 4,800 are provided with seasonal work. In the future, it is planned to create an additional 4,500 jobs," the ministry said.
“Work continues on the creation of agricultural parks in Azerbaijan and 51 agricultural parks and large farms are being created in 32 districts of the country on 240,000 hectares. Of these, 35 specialize in crop production, 14 in crop and livestock production, one in livestock, and one more in sorting, packaging, processing, and logistics. The activities of 43 agricultural parks have already started, while design work is underway in others,” the ministry emphasized.
Over the past year, the country's agricultural parks produced 124,300 tons of wheat, 64,600 tons of barley, 121,600 tons of corn, 90,400 tons of sugar beet, 45,500 tons of corn for silage. 18,500 tons of raw cotton, 5,900 tons of soybeans, 32,300 tons of clover, 27,400 tons of milk, and 3,300 tons of meat.
During 2017-2020, orchards with a total area of more than 7.5 thousand hectares were laid in agricultural parks, from which 12,000 tons of apples, 393.5 tons of olives, 183 tons of almonds, 200.7 tons of pomegranate, and 165.7 tons of grapes were harvested last year.