Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

A jump in demand for durum wheat is expected is Azerbaijan in upcoming years.

Zulfugar Mammadov, the head of the State Grain Fund under Azerbaijan's Emergency Situations Ministry, said that the current demand for hard wheat is at the level of 35,000-40,000 tons per year.

“There is a plant for processing hard wheat in the country and its consumption is now 35,000-40,000 tons per year. With the planned modernization of the plant, the demand will grow to 150,000 tons of grain per year by 2020," Mammadov said.

Durum wheat, which is hard and rich in protein, is used for making different types of pasta for which other wheat varieties are not suitable.

Speaking about reasons for durum wheat importing, Mammadov said cited poor quality among others. “Local farmers produce crops of low quality. Either they have no experience, or they do not attach much importance to that. Local manufacturers do not pay enough attention to durum wheat,” he stressed.

Durum wheat is the hardest of more than 30,000 varieties of wheat. The milling of other varieties of wheat breaks down the endosperm, resulting in fine, powdery flour that is suitable for baking products such as breads, cakes and cookies. However, the endosperm in durum wheat resists breaking during milling and results in granular, coarse flour.

The hardness of durum wheat, combined with its high protein content, yellow colour and nutty taste, makes it suitable for making pasta. The high gluten content also results in dough that is stiff and extrudes easily through metal discs to make more than 300 shapes of pasta, including macaroni and spaghetti.

Today, the demand for wheat is about 186 kilograms per year per capita in Azerbaijan; while in tote it makes up 1.75 -1.8 million tons per year for the total population of the country.

“Most of the consumption is covered by imports. For example, last year 1.6 million tons of grain was imported to the country,” he said, adding that not whole volume of the imported wheat is directed to food purposes.

Mammadov went on to say that the main purpose of the establishment of the State Grain Fund is to prevent scarcity and rise in price for bread and wheat products.

The Fund has prepared a register in order to determine how much crop at the same time can be reserved in Azerbaijan, he added.

"Since July 2, the State Grain Fund has started acceptance of high-quality grain. This year it was decided to purchase grain from local producers for 300 manats ($176) per ton. This price may change depending on the market situation. Last year the price was 250-280 manats ($146-$164),” Mammadov concluded.

Grain is the main and oldest agricultural production in Azerbaijan. Irrigated grain is planted in the lowland regions of Azerbaijan while the highlands and foothills of the country are sown with grain without irrigation.

Azerbaijan, which is keen to diversify its oil-dependent economy, considers agriculture as one of the priority sectors, where intensive reforms are being implemented.

The strategic road maps of the national economy of Azerbaijan were approved by the head of state at the end of the last year. These documents cover the priority areas of the country's economy. One of the road maps is devoted to agriculture. In line with measures to be implemented in this field as reflected in this document, until 2020 in Azerbaijan it is planned to create about 20,000 new jobs and increase the country's GDP by 1.2 billion manats.

It is planned to establish an agricultural insurance fund in 2018 within the framework of the implementation of the strategic road map for the production and processing of agricultural products.

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