UK embassy organizes agricultural workshops in Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Akbar Mammadov

The British Embassy in Azerbaijani has organized agricultural workshops in the country with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, the ministry told to local media on March 10.

The training will be held three days in Baku and one day in Ganja.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilhama Qadimova said that state support for the agricultural sector has been increased in recent years. At the same time, special attention is paid to train the staff and bring innovation to this area.

“Food security, employment and increase in exports are among the priority areas in the country. Azerbaijan is in the phase of transition to precision farming to increase productivity. Studying and applying new innovative methods is a very important issue for farmers. Strengthening the human resources base to enhance their knowledge and skills is always in focus. We hope that the specialists involved in these pieces of training will successfully convey the knowledge gained during the training to farmers living and operating in the regions,” Gadimova said.

Addressing the opening ceremony, British Ambassador to Azerbaijan James Sharp said that while the world is facing global food shortages, production of environmental agricultural products is extremely important.

The ambassador noted that the value for human health first begins with the proper organization of production.

“The agricultural economy is a very important direction for the sustainable development for every country. We appreciate agrarian reforms implemented in Azerbaijan in recent years because of their scale; protecting environmental regulations and complying with agricultural requirements in the production are necessary in the context of these reforms,” the British ambassador said.

Other international experts, speaking at the event, stressed that the UK Government's initiative would be an important step in the agricultural cooperation between the two countries.

The workshops involved qualified specialists from subordinate bodies of the Ministry of Agriculture, employees of research institutes, as well as representatives of consulting and information service organizations. The main objective is to improve the skills of trainers engaged in the use of pesticides, fertilizers and biological nutrients, and provide farmers with the latest innovations in this area.