Agrarian Credit and Development Agency to monitor subsidies in agriculture
By Akbar Mammadov
The Agrarian Credit and Development Agency (ACDA) under Azerbaijan’s Agriculture Ministry has been authorized to monitor the effectiveness of the subsidy mechanism allocated to the agricultural sector, to assess the impact of subsidy services on agricultural production.
According to the amendment to the regulations of ACDA dating May 1, 2020, this authority is entrusted with the provision of subsidies for the production of agricultural products, as well as the organization and coordination of activities in this area, the organization said on its website on May 4.
"Our new powers will allow us to study the short-term and long-term effects of subsidies on the agricultural sector and make improvements to increase their efficiency," said ACDA Chairman Mirza Aliyev.
"The main goal of the agency is to ensure the real impact of subsidies on the development of the agricultural sector", he added. The chairman also noted that for this, it is important that subsidies reach the right address.
"It should be noted that from January 2020, subsidy applications to the agricultural sector are received electronically and some of them are transferred to farmers' cards in the form of non-cash funds, which can be paid only for production costs through POS-terminals. Firstly, the sowing subsidy for last year's autumn sowing and the crop subsidy for cotton were paid in this way", the organization said.
Agrarian Credit and Development Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture was set up in 2004 in line with the presidential decree "On Measures to Improve Management in the Agrarian Division". In 2018, ACDA completed its formation on the basis of the State Service on Management of Agricultural Projects and Credits under the Ministry of Agriculture.
The agency is engaged in issuance of soft agricultural loans, issuance of discounts for equipment and breeding animals, issuance of preferential loans, provision of security, delivery of subsidies, project management and involvement of investment in agriculture.
Azerbaijan has been developing its agricultural sector in recent years and the agricultural production increased by 7.2%, including 11.7% for crop products and 3.5% for livestock products year-on-year in 2019.
Last year, the value of gross agricultural output in actual prices amounted to AZN 78,3 million (over $46 milion) and the share of this sector in the country's GDP increased from 5.3% in 2018 to 5.7%.
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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97
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