Eid al-Adha has come, the sheep disappeared...

Eid al-Adha has been celebrated for centuries.  The demand for live cattle is growing  before the Eid al-Adha holiday. Farmers take their farmed animals to the markets, and the proceeds from their sale go to meet their material needs. Small cattle are mainly used as sacrificial animals in Azerbaijan.  For the purpose of sacrifices, hundreds of thousands of sheep are slaughtered annually in the country.

In recent years, the demand for small cattle has increased, but in fact the number of small cattle has seriously decreased. Thus, according to information on the state of livestock distributed by the State Statistics Committee (SSC),

there were 7206 thousand sheep and goats in the country on April 1, 2024. Calculations show that the number of sheep and goats has decreased since April 1, 2024 compared to the same period in 2020 by 1 million 180 thousand heads, that is, by 14%. In 2023, the number of small cattle decreased by 1 million 471 thousand heads compared to 2016.

Government policy

In 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture adopted the "State Program for intensive development of livestock breeding and effective use of pasture lands in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2019-2023". The goal of this program, which ended last year (in 2023), was to bring the volume of meat production in the country to 354 thousand tons by 2023, and the level of self-sufficiency in meat products to 92.5%.

Our calculations showed that in 2023, 55.6 thousand tons of meat were obtained through the import of live cattle. That is, cattle that are not raised or fed in Azerbaijan, but are imported into the republic, go to slaughter, after which the meat obtained is issued for products of its own production. Excluding imported live cattle meat, meat production in Azerbaijan in 2023 amounted to 316.4 thousand tons. Consequently, the goal of the state program was not achieved and 10% less meat was produced than planned.

Before the adoption of the State Program, that is, in 2018, live cattle were imported into the country for a total of 57.5 million USD; and in 2023, when the program was completed, this figure more than doubled and amounted to 115.7 million USD.

Although the program provided for an increase in the number of small cattle from 8454 thousand heads to 8771 thousand heads, in the process of its implementation, the number of animals decreased sharply. So, if before the adoption of the program, the number of small cattle in the country (in 2018) was 8.45 million heads, then by the end of 2023, when the program was completed, the number of small cattle amounted to 7.08 million heads. That is, during the implementation of the State Program, the number of small cattle, instead of increasing by 314 thousand heads, as stipulated in the document, decreased by 1.37 million heads (by 16.2%).

Import

While the number of small cattle in the country has sharply decreased, in 2023,  320 thousand 543 heads of live sheep were imported to Azerbaijan for 25 million 102 thousand USD, which is 65% or 125.9 thousand heads more than in the previous year and 58% or 9.2 million USD more in value. Last year, the largest number of small cattle were imported from Georgia. So, in 2023, 218 thousand 191 heads of live sheep worth 16 million 414 thousand USD were imported from Georgia to the country. Imports of live sheep from Georgia increased by 24% compared to 2022, or by 42.3 thousand heads. Last year, imports of live sheep from Georgia accounted for 68% of total sheep imports.                      

Meat of small cattle 

According to the SSC, 90 thousand tons of sheep and goat meat are produced and consumed in Azerbaijan per year. As already mentioned, imported live cattle are slaughtered in the country and therefore they are given out for meat of their own production. Calculations show that the meat of imported live small cattle accounts for 6.8% of the total volume of mutton consumed in the country. The meat of live small cattle imported from Georgia accounted for up to 4.6% of the total volume of mutton consumed by the population of the country.

In the last few months of 2024, as a result of restrictions on the import of small cattle from Georgia, mutton in Azerbaijan has risen in price. In general, there are very serious reasons for the increase in prices for meat and meat products in Azerbaijan. Thus, the country produces meat half as much as the total demand, which leads to an increase in prices for meat and meat products. The SSC also noted an increase in prices for mutton in May. Research has shown that the cost of sacrificial sheep has increased by 48% over the past 4 years. So, if in 2021 1 kg of mutton was offered for 12-13 manats, then in 2024 - for 18-19 manats. It should also be noted that in 2023, the selling price of 1 kg of sacrificial sheep based on pure meat amounted to 15-16 manats. The reason for the increase in prices of sacrificial animals is a decrease in supply, which is associated with a reduction in livestock.

The reason for the reduction of livestock (supply) 

After 2016, the main reason for the reduction of livestock in Azerbaijan is a weak food supply. It was in 2016 and subsequent years that the government, in order to develop cotton growing, forestry, tobacco farming and other industries, and create agrarian parks, made it possible to use natural mowing and pastures as acreage, as a result of which 117.9 thousand hectares of hay and pasture lands were officially withdrawn from circulation during this period (Table 1). Before giving away hay and pasture lands for crops, the government had to strengthen the livestock feed base. However, the policy pursued in this direction has not produced a positive result. Thus, although the government in 2008, in the adopted "State program for reliable food supply in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2008-2015", set a goal to increase the production of high-quality, balanced compound feeds to 2 million tons per year, in 2022 the production of compound feeds amounted to only 187.1 thousand tons. That is, during the year, 10 times less feed was produced than expected. With Azerbaijan's annual demand for hay at 10 million tons, less than half of them are produced in the country, only 4.7 million tons. The shortage of compound feeds, hay, and scarce pastures caused serious problems with providing animals with feed.                           

The SSC indicates that the area of natural hay and pasture lands in the country is 2 million 415 thousand hectares, however, in reality, construction was conducted on some of these sites, and they are not used for their intended purpose. No one knows exactly how many natural hayfields and pastures there are in Azerbaijan.

Although today there are buildings on tens of thousands of hectares of arable and pasture lands, these lands are listed in the documents as arable and pasture lands. In fact, the areas of pastures that do not exist in the country are calculated by dividing them by livestock. That is, in many cases, pastures that are registered do not exist in reality.

Due to the lack of feed, it is impossible to increase productivity in animal husbandry. Therefore, in recent years, the costs of livestock production, the cost of production, and the resulting products have been increasing, the difficulties of farmers and peasants are growing, and incomes are decreasing. For these reasons, entrepreneurs are forced to send some of their livestock for slaughter.

Although the "Strategic Roadmap for the production and processing of agricultural products in the Republic of Azerbaijan" and the "State Program for intensive development of livestock and effective use of pasture lands in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2019-2023" adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2019 provide for such measures as doubling the area of forage crops, preserving and increasing the productivity of pastures and pastures, improving supplying livestock enterprises with feed, ensuring the effective use of pastures, The set goals remained on paper, and no specific work was carried out to achieve the goal.

While pasture areas in the country are rapidly declining, the state program adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture set a goal to turn 100 thousand hectares of pasture lands in Beylagan, Imishli, Bilasuvar, Tovuz, Zardab, Neftchala, Kurdamir and Gakh regions into acreage in 2019-2023. Due to the weak feed base in animal husbandry, the government as a whole was unable to achieve the goal set in connection with meat production.

The development of animal husbandry depends primarily on the organization of feed production. The creation of a solid food base in the country means a sustainable supply of meat, milk, eggs and other livestock products to the population and a guarantee of the physical health of animals.

Unfortunately, there is still uncertainty in animal husbandry. To this day, there are no accurate animal statistics in the country. Although the "State program for reliable provision of food to the population in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2008-2015" provided for measures related to the identification and registration of farm animals. However, no specific work has been conducted in this area yet. As mentioned above, it is not known exactly how many hectares of natural hay and pasture lands there are in the country.

Thus, in the presence of a weak livestock feed base in the country, the areas of pastures and natural haymaking have also decreased in recent years. And although the government has set a goal to increase the production of high-quality balanced compound feeds to 2 million tons per year, compound feeds were produced 10 times less. In general, the number of animals is rapidly declining due to the weak forage base in animal husbandry, low productivity of pasture areas.

I believe that the government should create a system of identification and registration of animals available in the country, compile a balanced feed diet throughout the country and determine their needs, considering the type, breed, age and purpose of animals, in order to ensure the effective use of pastures and natural mowing, seed sowing, feeding, watering and alternate grazing.

APPLICATIONS

Table 2. The number of small cattle in thousand heads. Source of the SSC