BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 11
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
A five-year strategy and a three-year action plan to strengthen agricultural advisory services will be developed in Azerbaijan within two years, a source in FAO Partnership and Liaison Office in Azerbaijan told Trend during the first week of 2021.
"The strategy is being developed on the basis of the project "Strengthening agricultural consulting services", being funded by the EU and being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
More than one million hectares was sown with grain in Azerbaijan in 2020. The sowing balance of this area is planned to be increased by about 10 percent through the liberated territories in coming years.
More than 335,000 tons of finished products were produced in 2020 from a 100,000 hectare-area sown with cotton.
The average yield of cotton in comparison with the previous year increased by four centners and amounted to 33.5 centners.
The tobacco yield increased from 19.3 centners to 22.1 centners, the yield of sugar beet increased from 328 centners to 481 centners, buckwheat - from 29.9 centners to 32.8 centners compared to 2019.
During the outgoing week, Azerbaijani Minister of Agriculture Inam Karimov said that the work has already begun to develop agriculture in the territories liberated from the occupation.
"The ministry together with Azercosmos OJSC, based on satellite images of perennial plantations, mapped the actual arable lands in the liberated areas," Karimov said.
"The preliminary work has begun to sow the plants on these lands, as well as to carry out agrotechnical measures to care for perennial plantations," the minister said.
In accordance with the data published by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), the volume of lending to agriculture, forestry and fishing in Azerbaijan amounted to 553.9 million manat ($325.8 million) as of December 1, 2020.
According to the CBA, lending to this sector increased by 33.8 million manat ($19.9 million), or 6.5 percent, compared to the same period of 2019.
This figure increased by 13.6 million manat that’s $8 million (2.5 percent) compared to early 2020.
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