“The requirement to own 50 purebred or 100 crossbred cattle to qualify for livestock subsidies should be abolished,” a lawmaker has proposed.
Deputy Vasif Gafarov made the proposal during a joint meeting of the Milli Majlis (National Assembly) committees on agrarian policy; family, women and children; and science and education, where lawmakers discussed the draft law “On the State Budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2027,” Operative Information Center-OMM reports.
He said a tiered incentive system should be introduced instead to encourage farmers:
“Farmers with up to 10 purebred cattle should receive 300 manat per head; those with 10 to 30 should receive 500 manat per head; and those with more than 30 should receive 1,000 manat per head. I believe this approach would ensure that all farmers engaged in purebred cattle breeding can benefit from subsidies and would create a healthy competitive environment. At the same time, the requirement to have 100 hectares of pasture to qualify for subsidies in sheep and goat farming should be abolished, and the requirement of 500 animals should be reduced to a realistic figure — at least 10 to 20.”
Gafarov added that although a new support mechanism of 500 to 1,500 manat per animal had been announced to promote intensive purebred cattle farming, farmers were still required to own at least 50 purebred or 100 crossbred animals:
“The same approach has been applied to sheep and goat farming: to receive a subsidy of just 4 manat, a farmer must own at least 500 animals and have 100 hectares of pasture and grazing land. This approach completely excludes small and medium-sized rural farms engaged in livestock breeding from subsidies. In practice, state support is directed only to large agro-parks and big businesses. This means that the support will go not to the farmers who need it most, but to large businesses. In my view, this is a wrong and unfair approach that runs counter to the strategic policy of the head of state, which encourages farmers to remain in rural areas.”
