17:15 - 30.10.2018

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October 30, Fineko/abc.az. The Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan has presented AMAL - a new project aimed to increase agricultural employment.

Mirza Aliyev, the head of the MoA State Project & Credit Management Service, stated that the project term is three years.

"The project is implemented with the support of the Food & Agriculture Organization, which allocated AZN 2 million for the purpose," Aliyev said.

He emphasized that it is known that about 50% of the employed part of the population, in particular young people, are living in rural areas. The project defines three main priorities – employment, use of green technology innovations and improvement of entrepreneurial and professional skills. The goal of the new project is to increase interest in agriculture and prevent the flow to the city, food security, and environmental protection.

"A pilot group to be formed to implement the project will consist of 200 people to be selected in 10 pilot districts. At the first stage, workshops on the formation of business ideas, agriculture and innovation, development of a business plan, development of a financial model will be conducted for a group of future entrepreneurs.

Aliyev said that the young entrepreneurs finish visiting workshops, they will be given subsidized loans with maximum amount of up to AZN 40,000 and annual rate of up to 5%. One of the partner banks of the State Service will be drawn to allocate loans. Besides, the young entrepreneurs will be assisted to enter the markets to sell their products.

"Monitoring of projects will be carried out in the process of their implementation," Aliyev stressed.

Starting from this week the project website (www.amal.az) has been activated. Campaign on promotion of this project will begin from next week.