Azerbaijani farmers issued subsidies worth 44 million dollars
By Akbar Mammadov
The Agrarian Credit and Development Agency (ACDA) under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture has allocated subsides worth 44 million dollars to local farmers for Autumn sowing.
The funds have been transferred to the farmers’ accounts via farm cards.
“Transferring of subsidies to farmer’s card accounts started last week. Currently, 180,000 farmers have received subsidy funds via transfer to their cards for the Autumn sowing”, Chairman of ACDA Mirza Aliyev has said.
Some 474,520 farmers have registered in the Electronic Agricultural Information System (ECTIS) so far.
The Chairman of Agrarian Credit and Development Agency Mirza Aliyev said that the first time, this year, farmers receive subsidies through electronic systems. One of the major innovations in the new system is the liberalization of the suppliers market.
Some 361,307 farmers have declared their fall crops. The total area of the declared areas is 993,718 hectares. “The cards of 279,553 farmers are ready. Some 102,500 farmers have received their farmer cards and used the subsidy funds. The cards of 156,391 farmers are available at Kapitalbank's regional branches, and farmers can approach their branches and obtain their cards,” Aliyev said.
“We have also provided the opportunity for suppliers to register through this electronic system. Supplier companies should set up their activities in regions and promote awareness about themselves among farmers. We have also located the list of all these suppliers, contact numbers on the website; however, suppliers should solve their logistics issues, and direct contact with farmers,” Aliyev said.
Aliyev said that there are innovative payment and subsidizing methods in this new system of the Ministry of Agriculture.
“First, paying the cost of agrarian services with a “Farm Card” is an innovation for agricultural producers. As you know, only 25% of the subsidies can be cashed in accordance with the rules. On the farmer's card balance, cash and cashless balances appear separately.
Besides, a farmer who wants to buy fertilizer can pay 70% of the product's value for cash on his card. The remaining 30% must be paid in cash. Up to this year, according to the existing rules of fertilizer sales, the government paid 70% of the sale price of fertilizer directly to the supplier, farmers paid only 30%, and the cash paid was considered the real price of the fertilizer. Now, 70% of the money previously paid to suppliers is transferred to the farmers’ card account as a subsidy, and farmers think the government has not made any concession on sales of fertilizers.”
The Chairman also noted that those farmers who want to declare their crops on the system must assure that their documents certifying farmer’s ownership on the land area in the order.
It should be noted that new subsidizing rules were affirmed with the Presidential Decree 759 dated June 27, 2019 “On the establishment of a new subsidy mechanism in the agrarian section”. The Ministry of Agriculture and its subdivisions have set up mobile groups for farmers’ registration at Electronic Agricultural Information System to execute the decree and provide subsidies to the new rules, to raise awareness among farmers, and these trainers explained these new subsidy mechanisms to farmers during the meetings with them.
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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97
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