State Seed Fund Established

By the order of the President "On additional measures to strengthen state support for agricultural development" the State Seed Fund has been created. It will report to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Fund will meet the needs of high-yielding grain farms and drought-resistant seed varieties.

For the operation of the Fund, as well as for production and harvesting seeds, the state budget has allocated 10 million manat.

Note that, according to the financing of the "State program on providing the population with food in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2008-2015" in the current year, the state budget will allocate 186.2 million manat, which is 55.2 million manat or 42.1 % more than in 2014. Budget funds for the creation of the State Seed Fund are allocated under this state program.

An expert on the agricultural sector Vahid Maharramov believes that the seed growing problems cannot be solved with only order. This requires the adoption of a state program covering all aspects of the industry. At the same time, in his opinion, the creation of a special state fund is not a way out. "The experience of the State Grain Fund (SGF) under the Ministry of Emergency Situations has shown that such structures become instruments of gaining wealth for officials who are not interested in the development of local farming. Suffice it to say that all stocks of SGF are formed by imports from Russia and Kazakhstan. "

It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Agriculture has several state-run businesses, which are almost invisible. There is also LLC Azertokhum, one of the founders of which is state-run Azerbaijan Investment Company. ----08B