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UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food held a press conference on the results of her visit to Azerbaijan

11 October 2019 15:30 (UTC +04:00)

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Hilal Elve held a press conference on the results of her visit to Azerbaijan, APA reports.

“Vigorous economic growth and social transformation over the past 20 years have turned Azerbaijan into an impressive upper middle-income country, but it should work towards economic diversification and provide help for smallholders,” says visiting UN human rights expert Hilal Elver.

“The next 10 years are going to be crucial. Azerbaijan should concentrate its efforts on achieving self-sufficiency and strengthen its independence from big agricultural powers and companies to safeguard food security in the country. To achieve this, it is crucial to increase the market competitiveness of small farmers.

Nearly 90% of the farms are smallholdings, which occupy 85% of agricultural land. Because of the small land sizes, usually between one and three hectares, and the lack of associations, these farmers encounter many difficulties when accessing markets and are in competition with big agro businesses. There is often a significant difference between the original wholesale ‘field price’ of products and the price paid by consumers,” she said.

The Special Rapporteur said that, in spite of positive achievements, Azerbaijan’s economic wealth had not been equitably shared among the population. She stressed that, globally, inequality was one of the stumbling blocks in the struggle to eliminate poverty, hunger and malnutrition.