Azerbaijan produces 2.4 mln tons of grain
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijan produced over 2.379 million tons of grain from January to November 2014, State Statistics Committee said.
On average, the Azerbaijani farmers collected 24 quintals of grain from each hectare. The agricultural production volume in Azerbaijan based on the current prices amounted to 4.932,5 million manats in the mentioned period.
During this period, the livestock production increased by 3 percent, while crop production decreased by 8.1 percent.
Azerbaijan with a population of over 9.5 million people is capable of meeting its grain demands by 75 percent and imports only 25 percent of grains, mainly from Kazakhstan and Russia. The country produced 2.8 million tons of grain in 2013.
The government is keen to reduce the country's dependence on import to fully ensure its food security.
Since July 2, State Material Reserves Agency under Azerbaijan's Emergency Situations Ministry started purchasing grain at the price of 240 manats per ton from local farmers through its enterprises-grain elevators 'Sangachal', 'Ganja', 'Abşeron Taxıl', 'Karat-Holdinq', 'Karmen', 'FATOĞLU', 'Bakı-Taxıl' named after N. Guliyev, 'Araz' and 'Aveta'.
The purchased grain should meet the requirements approved by the resolution No 105 of Azerbaijan's Cabinet of Ministers issued on July 7, 2009 and determined by the annex No 1 on "Terms of content and use of the State Grain Fund."
The grain with wormwood or bad taste and smell, contaminated with black fungus horns-parasite, as well as storage pests are not allowed.
The fund which is eligible to provide grain supply of the nation, will not accept products not meeting these quality requirements.