Azernews.Az

Oil giant BP, the operator of major energy projects in Azerbaijan, has launched a major sustainable development initiative to support the communities neighboring Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and South Caucasus Pipeline, BP Azerbaijan said Tuesday.

The project is designed to provide sustainable income generation and capacity-building opportunities for community members involved in the agricultural sector.

The project will be implemented by Ganja Agribusiness Association (GABA), a local non-governmental organization, in collaboration with the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University located in Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second largest city.

The contribution to the two-year project of BP and its co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG), BTC, Shahdaniz, and SCP oil and gas projects is up to $800,000. The communities themselves will contribute about $230,000 and GABA - about $14,000.

The program scope includes construction of 132 greenhouses, a community bakery and 96 bee keeping set-ups and equipment in addition to transference of skills and knowledge required to sustainably manage these businesses and facilities.

Within the project, additional markets are to be opened up, new job opportunities created and self-help possibilities strengthened.

The realization of the project will help to increase business technical capacity among beneficiaries, provide benefits to the environment including support for biodiversity, provide opportunities to reuse the project components by others within the same communities as well as other communities.