Azerbaijan strives to increase agricultural production not only to meet local demand, but also to get broader access to foreign markets.
In this regard, the country strengthens its efforts to support the activities of people engaged in agricultural production. To this end, Azerbaijan established the State Agro Trade Company under the Ministry of Agriculture last year.
The company aims to expand support to small and medium farmers in Azerbaijan through the creation of “green markets”, holding fairs, trainings and other initiatives. Green markets allow consumers to get organic, healthy products at competitive prices. The main task is to encourage consumers to buy products from domestic manufacturers and support their activities through green markets.
The State Agro Trade Company is particularly expanding its activities to enhance the export of local agricultural products to foreign markets. In particular, the company has started export of agricultural products to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nigeria.
According to the information provided by the Agriculture Ministry, a batch of sweet cherries of the Napoleon variety grown in the Khachmaz region has been exported to Nigeria. The product has already been sold on the markets of the capital Abuja.
Leyla Mammadova, director of the State Agro Trade Company, said that since its establishment, the company had supported the sale of small and medium-sized farmers’ products, created new sales channels and packaging products for them.
She stressed that in addition to exporting to traditional markets, there was an active search for new sales markets.
“We are currently exporting agricultural products to Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Nigeria and the UAE. The volume and range of exported products is growing, and the geography of sales is expanding over time,” Mammadova added.
She noted that there was a great interest in Azerbaijani agricultural products in foreign countries as they were superior to other manufacturers’ products in taste and quality.
Azerbaijani products are sold on the foreign markets under the “Made in Azerbaijan” brand. The national products were put on sale in Africa for the first time in 2017 in Djibouti’s “Casino”, “Al Gamil” and “Cash Center” supermarkets.
Nigeria’s prestigious La Pounte supermarket sells Azerbaijani products under the “Made in Azerbaijan” brand. (AzerNews/Business World Magazine)