Azerbaijan needs nearly half a million cattle to meet domestic demand, expert says

Azerbaijan currently has only 50,000 head of cattle, while approximately 450,000-500,000 are needed to fully satisfy the country's internal demand for meat and dairy products, Khalig Mammadov, an international expert providing consulting services on innovative agricultural technologies in foreign countries and a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics, told Report.

He said that though Azerbaijan's favorable climatic conditions allow for the development of all types of animal husbandry, there has been a decline in this sector in recent years, particularly in sheep breeding.

"At the beginning of this year, there were 6.64 million sheep in the country, which is the lowest figure in the last 20 years," Mammadov said. In the past year alone, the number of sheep decreased by 531,000, with the decline continuing since 2015. A similar situation is observed with cattle.

Mammadov also highlighted the issue of low productivity in Azerbaijan's livestock industry. Around 1.1-1.2 million head of cattle produce only 7-12 liters of milk daily, significantly less than in European and developed countries. "According to the law of supply and demand, such a decrease contributes to the rise in prices for meat and meat products," he explained. To address this situation, the expert advises changing the breed composition of livestock.