Helping to Transform Agriculture in Azerbaijan

Chingiz Huseynov, a farmer in Salyan, Azerbaijan, is proud of his thriving cotton plants.  He is even more pleased, though, with the tomatoes sown between his rows of cotton.  For a farmer in this former Soviet Republic, his success is nothing short of revolutionary.  Under Communist rule, collective farms grew only state-prescribed crops, and farmers received a monthly income that bore no relation to how much they produced or how hard they worked. 

As a result of a farm privatization program funded, in part, by the World Bank, farmers in Azerbaijan have taken farming decisions into their own hands.

The program provides farmers like Huseynov with a piece of land—complete with a title which proves his ownership of the property—and access to fresh capital.  It is part of an effort to transform agriculture in Azerbaijan into a dynamic, market-oriented sector based on private farming.  The program has helped farmers cope with the country’s serious water shortage by making major repairs to canals and pumps, and carrying out construction work on drainage facilities.

In total, 23,000 Azerbaijani farmers have benefited from the project, and most have seen a dramatic increase in their respective crop yields.  The farmers say that the incentive of private ownership makes them work harder. 

“Now that the land is mine, I put in extra effort to earn more money for my family,” said Xeyrulla Mamedov, another successful farmer in Salyan.

Today, Huseynov legally owns his five-hectare parcel of land and uses it however he wishes.  He sells cottonseeds and hay to his neighbors, and feeds his livestock with barley harvested from his farm.

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Updated: September 2002