Reduced Area under Cereals

As of December 1, the area under crops in Azerbaijan amounted to 806,600 hectares, which is 104 800 ha or 11.5% less than in the same period last year.

Government provides subsidies to producers of wheat and rice two times more than other farmers - 80 manat per hectare. Investigation of the Ministry of Agriculture has disclosed facts of artificially high acreage by local entities to receive public funds. This year alone, for this and other reasons, the spring crops for grain and legumes fell from 1,035,000 to 990,000 hectares.

By early December wheat was planted on 502,800 hectares or 104 500 ha less than in the same period of 2013. The remaining 303,800 hectares were set aside for barley.

According to official estimates, about 40% (1.5 million tons) of the country's demand for grain is satisfied through imports. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2014, 1,446,500 tons of wheat was harvested from 604,000 ha. Experts note that the local wheat is mainly used for the production of animal feed, poultry and livestock needs.

In 2013, the stocks of wheat and barley in Azerbaijan were estimated at 5.8 million tons, 73.4% or 4.26 million tons of which were used. Loss for the year increased by 13.5% to 300 000 tons. -- 08D-