Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Adopting the system of e-agriculture in Azerbaijan will allow solving many problems in the agricultural sector.

This was said by Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov on local TV.

"This is a large-scale project which will take a significant period of time, so we have already started to take several measures in this area. In particular, a comparative analysis of our database with the database of the State Committee for Land and Cartography and the State Committee on Property Issues has been conducted so far," he noted.

The minister also said adoption of the mentioned measures will continue in the future, and the monitoring conducted by the ministry will be enhanced.

"In the future the e-agriculture system will be operational. It will allow conducting online registration of the farmers, lands, as well as will provide other benefits. The ministry will ensure the absolute transparency of the system," Asadov stressed.

He went on to add that some saved funds were invested to fulfill the goals set by the Head of State on expansion and increasing the size of the agricultural privileges for farmers and manufacturers.

Azerbaijan has allocated 20.15 million manats for farmers in the state budget of 2014. Agricultural subsidies have been granted in Azerbaijan since 2007.

Asadov went on to say that the responsibility of offering services to the farmers will be transferred to private contractors.

The minister noted the role of the state is to regulate and control the market.

"We adhere to the same global approach, and believe that if more than 90 percent of the country's agricultural production is provided by the private sector, then it is necessary to transfer the segment services to the private sector as well," Asadov stressed.

The agricultural sector is important not only for increasing Azerbaijan's export potential, but also for restoring and protecting the country's food security. Protecting the quality and price of food stuff produced in Azerbaijan and producing them in accordance with quality standards are among the top issues of the country's food security.

Azerbaijan is meeting the population's demands for meat products by 90 percent, poultry meat by 81 percent, eggs by 80 percent, dairy products by 75 percent, vegetable oil by 65 percent, and butter by 50 percent through local production.

As a result of the measures conducted in Azerbaijan to ensure food security, the production of husbandry goods has increased by 3.1 times, cattle-breeding by 3.4 times, meat production by 1.6 times, and grain production by 1.4 times in the past 10 years.

The outlines of the state policy by 2015 include: to provide a balanced local and regional economic development, to carry out the relevant actions related to the protection of domestic food market from unfair competition, to continue the protection of ecological balance and bio-diversity, and to develop cooperation with international organizations to improve food supply.