He made the remarks addressing a republican conference on development of cotton-growing in Barda District on March 26.

"In the main areas that determine food security, today Azerbaijan either fully provides itself or is very close to this target. Azerbaijan provides itself with meat by almost 100 percent. Production of milk stands at approximately 80-85 percent. Production of chicken meat will reach 100 percent and big export potential will be created in the next year or two. As for production of eggs, currently, we not only provide ourselves, but also export. In other words, these are priority areas,” President Aliyev noted.

Touching upon industrial crops, the president said they were left unheeded, adding there were a number of reasons for this.

"One of the reasons was related to the belief that farmers themselves know what to plant and grow. This sphere was not given much state support. As for private companies that were engaged in cotton-growing, they did not exert the necessary effort, did not pay proper attention to cotton production, did not invest the proper amounts, and cotton-growing was gradually destroyed in Azerbaijan,” the president noted.

“It is enough to look at the statistical indexes: 2015 was the most aggrieving year in the history of cotton-growing. Cotton was planted only on 18,000 hectares and only 35,000 tons of cotton were harvested,” the head of state added.

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