March 29, 2012

Azerbaijan's agriculture ministry sees 2012 grain output growth

Azerbaijan's Ministry of Agriculture projects the rise of grain output in 2012 by 100,000 tonnes, said Sabir Veliyev, department head for control over the production and processing of crop products.

According to him, the sowing areas increased by 40,000 ha compared with last year, which allows to forecast the growth of grain production. In 2012 the Ministry plans to receive the harvest of 2.55 million tonnes of grains, said S. Veliyev.

According to the State Statistics Committee, in 2011 Azerbaijan produced 2.459 million tonnes of grains (up 22%, or 458,000 tonnes compared to 2010) with average yields of 25.4 c/ha (including 66.7%, or 1.64 million tonnes of wheat volumes).

During the autumn sowing campaign, agrarians ploughed 1.04 million ha of agricultural lands, sowing works were carried out throughout 93.1% of these areas - 968,200 ha, including 689,100 ha of wheat areas (up 4.3% compared the previous year), 267,300 ha - barley (up 4.9%), 11,800 ha - green fodder. In general, the grain sowing areas in Azerbaijan grew by 4.5% compared to last year.

To date, the country's demand in grains is estimated at the level of 3-3.2 million tonnes.

In 2012, Kazakhstan and Russia will stay the main exporters of grains to Azerbaijan, said S. Veliyev.