Agrarian Policy Dictated by Mercantile Interests of Officials - Expert

Baku / 12.02.18 / Turan: During the government meeting following the social and economic development of the regions in 2017, statements were made about the rapid progress in the sphere of agriculture. However, the growth in imports indicates the sad fate of the industry, designed to feed the country, the agricultural specialist Vahid Maharramov told Turan.

The latest data from the State Customs Committee show a rapid increase in the volume of food imports, the expert said. From his words, the situation in grain growing is especially impressive in a comparative analysis of the volumes of imports of recent years. So, in 2002 wheat imports were at the level of 657.2 thousand tons, however over the last 14 years this figure increased by 2.4 times - up to 1 million 599.6 thousand tons in 2016. During the same period, the volume of maize import increased from 2.1 thousand tons to 181.6 thousand tons. This means that during the reporting period, imports of this herb increased 86 times (!)

As for other imports, sugar imports increased 2.8 times over the past period, imports of fresh fruit increased 13.6 times, vegetables - 13.6 times, and potatoes - 5.6 times. Over the past 14 years, rice imports have increased by 2.4 times, tea - 2.9 times, animal fats - 5 times, dairy products - 2 times, eggs - 6.8 times, and beef - 9.8 times. This shows that the industry not only does not develop, but has come to a state of decline, Maharramov said, paying attention to the strange statements of officials about the growing export: "They say that honey should become our main export product. It is noteworthy that in neighboring countries, say Georgia, Armenia and Turkey, domestic production of honey is 1.5 - 1.7 kg per capita per year. In Azerbaijan, this figure does not exceed 266 grams. How in this case to understand the statement that we provide ourselves with honey by 97%? The fact is that, compared to neighboring countries, the domestic production of this product covers the population's need by 20%," the expert calculated. "And this is just a particular example of the inconsistency of statements and the real situation in a single industry."

But most impressive is the cotton campaign of the government, aimed at exporting "white gold". "For comparison, in 1992 cotton production in the country was 336.3 thousand tons. The productivity was at the level of 18.4 quintals / ha. But then the budget funds were not spent on cotton growing. Meanwhile, the country received hundreds of millions of dollars from the export of this culture. With the launch of the campaign, hundreds of millions of budget funds go to the development of the industry, modern machinery is purchased, the cost of one imported combine reaches one million manat, and producers receive subsidies, preferential fuels, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. At the same time, from 136 thousand hectares of cotton fields, it was possible to harvest 207 thousand tons of harvest - 15 quintals / ha. Imagine that last year cotton was collected by 129 thousand tons less than in 1992, and 25 years ago, 330 kg of this technical crop was collected from a hectare."

According to the expert, the nature of our country favors the development of agriculture, and the difficult situation in this sphere is due to the fact that the agrarian policy is determined by the mercantile interests of officials: "Our country is in a favorable climatic zone, occupying a very advantageous geographical position. However, there are a number of problems that impede the development of the agricultural sector. Small farms are in a state of decline, because they do not have modern equipment and agricultural machinery, the lack of organic and inorganic mineral fertilizers is affecting, which leads to soil degradation. A lot of problems are caused by a shortage of irrigation water. In addition, farmers do not have access to financial sources, and there are no professional human resources so necessary for effective development of the agro-industry. In addition to all this, instead of solving urgent problems, government officials force villagers to work inefficiently. The ultimate goal of such actions is to cause farmers to abandon their lands in favor of oligarchic officials. Government officials use all the levers available to them for this purpose," Maharramov said. -0---