The Need for a Transition to Intensive Livestock Farming Has Emerged

Baku faces a new challenge in its food market after Iran temporarily halted exports of agricultural and food products, a move that could disrupt supplies of low-cost goods widely consumed by poorer households in Azerbaijan.

In 2018, the Government of Azerbaijan adopted the “State Program for the Development of Rice Cultivation in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2018–2025.” As stated in the document, the objective of the State Program was to more fully satisfy the country’s population demand for rice, substitute imports, develop the rice processing industry, increase employment among the rural population, and stimulate the development of the rice cultivation sector.

The implementation period of the “State Program on the Development of Sericulture and Silk Production in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2018–2025” has come to an end. It should be recalled that the State Program was adopted in 2017.

When Ilham Aliyev told a gathering of non-oil exporters in 2017 that Azerbaijan’s wineries were operating at only 20–30 per cent of their 100m-bottle annual capacity, the message was clear: viticulture would be revived, factories would run at full tilt and exports would “increase sharply”.