Deputy minister addresses water scarcity despite development of agriculture

Despite the intensive development of agriculture in Azerbaijan as a priority direction of the economy, the water resources necessary for it are decreasing intensively, Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijani Deputy Agriculture Minister Sarvan Jafarov as saying at the Baku Water Week Conference.

He noted that the agricultural sector is the largest production sector in Azerbaijan, with a share of 70-80% of total water consumption. Some 90% of the 1.5 million hectares of irrigated land in the country is covered by surface water sources, and underground water sources are used to irrigate approximately 180 thousand hectares of land.

"At the same time, more than 90% of export-oriented agricultural products fall on irrigated lands. These numbers clearly show the dependence of agriculture on water," he said.