Agricultural productivity in Azerbaijan will increase by 20%, Stefanie Stallmeister, the World Bank's Country Manager for Azerbaijan, said at the Green Finance conference organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham Azerbaijan), Report informs.
"We think there will be a productivity shock of 10% to 20% in the agricultural sector in both optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. This is very important for a country where 36% of the population depends on agriculture," Stallmeister said.
According to the World Bank official, despite this, climate change will have a particularly serious impact on the agricultural sector in Azerbaijan: "80% of agriculture in Azerbaijan is carried out in arid or semi-desert regions, and water used for irrigation accounts for 70% of the country's water demand. Therefore, there is a high risk for Azerbaijan's agricultural sector."