Women farmers engaged in agribusiness in regions united in Association of Rural Women - Bahar Muradova

The number of women entrepreneurs in the world and in Azerbaijan is constantly increasing, they are more and more interested in being represented in large business structures, Azernews reports, citing Chairman of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children's Problems Bahar Muradova telling at the conference on "Heydar Aliyev and the development of entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan" organized by the Ministry of Economy, SMBDA and ASK.

Bahar Muradova noted that increasing the role of women in the economy, who currently manage a third of fast-growing businesses, is also among the goals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The chairman noted that the development of women's entrepreneurship, which plays an important role in the sustainable and inclusive development of countries, is also important from an economic point of view. As a result of the policy implemented by Ilham Aliyev favorable conditions were created for the development of entrepreneurship, the number of female entrepreneurs and the percentage of participation in the growth of the national economy increased significantly.

According to her, relevant work is being carried out on the points of the ”Action Plan of the state program on socio-economic development of the regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2019-2023”. The Association of Women Entrepreneurs has been established and the activities of various associations and public organizations, both domestically and internationally, are expanding.

Bahar Muradova added that women farmers engaged in agribusiness in the regions have united in the Azerbaijan Rural Women's Association (AKQA). The introduction of certain tax benefits and the payment of subsidies from the state budget have given an important impetus to the increase of women's participation in this field.

She emphasized that the increasing interest of women living in rural areas in this field, as well as the active continuation of 70 percent of those who started entrepreneurship, is an indicator of the success of these centers.

The chairman of the committee said that it would be appropriate to establish coordinated activities by the State Committee, the Ministry of Economy, and the Confederation of Entrepreneurs in order to ensure the stability and establishment of relevant centers in other regions.

Bahar Muradova said Women farmers engaged in agribusiness in the regions have united in the Association of Rural Women of Azerbaijan.

Currently, out of about 700 thousand agricultural subjects, about 200 thousand are women farmers.

According to her, more than 30 percent of the participants of the professional development program, who have used the events and support projects implemented by SMBDA in Baku and various regions in recent years, are women. The chairman of the committee added that 70 women entrepreneurs applied to implement business projects in Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur economic regions.

The development of this field has also been established by the State Committee in 17 districts and is kept in mind through Women's Resource Centers.

In total, 13 thousand 234 women have been involved in training and events on various topics by the Resource Centers, and 622 people have started business activities.