August 22, 2011

Azerbaijan's agriculture ministry eyes meat, milk output increase

Agriculture Ministry of Azerbaijan is looking to raise the processed meat and milk produced in the country from 7.8-30% in 2010 to 50-60%, respectively for this year, Agriculture Minister Ismet Abbasov, said.

"As of January 1, 2011, Azerbaijan produced 253,800 tonnes of meat and 1.529.2 million tonnes of milk, however, only 7.8% of meat and 30% of milk were processed. One of the tasks is to bring the indicators to 50% and 60% respectively," said Abbasov. He said today there are 27 meat processing enterprises and 54 milk processing enterprises. "This volume partially meets the needs of the population for the meat and dairy products," said the minister.

According to Abbasov, in the future it is expected to increase sown area of forage plants to 500,000 hectares, respectively, increase the number of cattle and poultry, the volume of locally produced meat and dairy products.

"About US$8.5 million have was allocated to develop livestock breeding in Azerbaijan in 2008-2010," said Abbasov.