PremiumAzerbaijan increases state expenses for agriculture

Azerbaijan, Baku, March 20 / Trend, A. Akhundov /

The amount of funds allocated from the Azerbaijani state budget to agriculture reached a record level of 468.2 million manat in 2012 compared to 444.7 million manat in 2011, head of the department for agricultural policy of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Azer Amiraslanov told Trend.

He said that Azerbaijan spent $247 from the budget per each hectare of land suitable for agriculture in 2012, which is an average index.

As for the possibility of drawing new loans from international financial institutions to develop agriculture, Amiraslanov said that it is necessary to maximize the exploitation of opportunities that open up international projects and international technical assistance in the field of agriculture.

"There are many innovative tasks, such as the use of new technologies, new methods in agrarian management and the creation of e-agriculture," he said. "We believe that it is important to expand cooperation with international organizations in this field. We must take into account that these projects will be used, first of all, in the most required areas. From this point of view, we support this approach to the issue. However, we must use all opportunities."

The official exchange rate is 0.7848 AZN/USD on March 20.