BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 8. Starting this year, Azerbaijan will implement a farmer rating system for the allocation of agricultural subsidies, Agriculture Minister Majnun Mammadov told reporters, following the high-level roundtable "Harmony in Action: Partnering for Climate-Resilient Agriculture,'' held as part of Baku Climate Action Week, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
The minister noted that the farmer rating system has been in a pilot phase since last year and will be implemented in the subsidy allocation process starting this year.
According to him, the farmer rating is based on three main criteria.
“The first is the economic benefit and economic value of the crops produced by the farmer; the second is the agronomic measures and methods used, as well as how modern the crop management practices are; and the third, of course, is the implementation of climate-resilient agricultural practices,” Mammadov noted.
The minister emphasized that a farmer’s final score is determined based on these three areas, and farmers are evaluated according to the information they provide in the “Electronic Agriculture” information system.
Mammadov stated that the farmer’s rating will be taken into account during the initial stage of providing advance subsidies.
“This year, for the first time, we will take this into account when providing advance subsidies. When granting advance subsidies, we will consider farmers cultivating land ranging from 5 to 100 hectares, as well as the types of crops specified in the decision of the Agricultural Subsidies Council for annual crops,” the minister said.
According to him, one of the main criteria in this process will be the score a farmer has earned on the rating system.
“The key is to prioritize farmers who have earned 30 or more points on the rating system,” Mammadov added.
