Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The gross value of agriculture output in Azerbaijan amounted to 3.68 billion manats ($2.16 billion) at actual prices this January-July, according to the State Statistics Committee.

Of the total volume, some 1.94 billion manats accounted for livestock and 1.74 billion manats ($1.02 billion) for plant products.

If to compare with the results of 2016 then the gross output of agriculture increased by 1.2 percent, including livestock - by 3 percent, while plant products decreased by 0.8 percent.

As of August 1, there was collected 526,200 tons of potatoes (or 8,8 percent less), 800,800 tons of vegetables (9.3 percent more), 311,500 tons of garden products (9,2 percent less), 202,000 tons of fruit and berry (12.1 percent more), 4.1 million tons of grapes (15.5 percent more), more than 1,800 tons of sunflower (12.3 percent more), 2,000 tons of tobacco (4.2 percent less) tobacco and 444.1 tons of green tea leaves (27 percent less).

Moreover in the same period, 97.3 percent or 915.700 hectares of cereals and grain legumes were sown and 2.62 million tons of crops were harvested in the country.

The export of Azerbaijan’s agricultural products rose by 44 percent in January-April 2017 as compared to the same period of 2016.

The agricultural sector is of significant importance for Azerbaijan, which is keen to diminish its dependence on the oil sector. Azerbaijan, being engaged in increasing its export potential and boosting and protecting the population's food security, sees the agricultural sector as a central direction in a bid to diversify the national economy.

Furthermore, the strategic road maps of the national economy of Azerbaijan were approved by the head of state at the end of the last year. These documents cover the priority areas of the country's economy. One of the road maps is devoted to agriculture. In line with measures to be implemented in this field as reflected in this document, until 2020 in Azerbaijan it is planned to create about 20,000 new jobs and increase the country's GDP by 1.2 billion manats ($700 million).

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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