Rural Transition in Azerbaijan

by Lerman, Zvi; Sedik, David

• ISBN13: 9780739143162
• ISBN10: 0739143166
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-02-15
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

In 1995-1996 the president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, launched a program of agrarian reforms that caused a sweeping and irreversible shift from Soviet-style collective agriculture to individual farming in his country. These reforms led to an impressive recovery and substantial productivity improvements in agriculture. The agrarian transition in Azerbaijan contrasts with that in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, where land privatization has been accompanied by policies encouraging the persistence of large corporate farms and where agricultural recovery has been much less impressive. For this reason Azerbaijan is today viewed as one of the few examples of successful land reform in the former Soviet Union.

Author Biography

Zvi Lerman is professor and Sir Henry d'Avigdor Goldsmit Chair in Agricultural Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is author of Agriculture in Transition: Land Policies and Evolving Farm Structure in Post-Soviet Countries. David Sedik is Senior Agricultural Policy Officer responsible for the Europe and Central Asia region in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. His duties combine policy related research on current issues of the region with the rendering of policy advice to member countries.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Azerbaijan: The Country and the People	p. 7
Geography	p. 7
History	p. 10
Population Growth and Land Scarcity	p. 14
The Economic Regions of Azerbaijan	p. 18
Policy and Agricultural Development in Azerbaijan: A 40-Year Perspective	p. 25
Patterns of Agricultural Growth in Azerbaijan	p. 26
Changes in Factor Use	p. 30
Agricultural Productivity	p. 40
Investment in Agriculture	p. 44
From Agriculture to Oil: The "Petrolification" of the Azeri Economy	p. 49
From a Soviet Colony to Independence: What Azerbaijan Has Become in the 21st Century	p. 59
The Design and Implementation of Land Reform	p. 63
The Need for Reform: The Soviet Agricultural System Comes Apart 1985-95	p. 65
Azerbaijan's Legal Framework for Reform: From Hesitation to Decisiveness	p. 70
Agrarian Reform Policies Leading to Recovery	p. 75
Implementation of Land Reform: Sweeping Distribution to Rural Population	p. 82
Outcomes of Reform: Transition to Individual Farming and Sector Recovery	p. 87
Changing Farm Structure: From Collective to Individual Agriculture	p. 88
Growth of the Individual Sector: Land and Livestock	p. 90
Individualization and Recovery	p. 95
Individualization and Productivity	p. 99
Outcomes of Reform: Rural Incomes and Poverty	p. 103
Land Reform and Rural Incomes	p. 105
Land Reform and Rural Poverty Reduction	p. 115
Factors Tending to Increase Rural Poverty in Azerbaijan	p. 120
Rural Poverty in Azerbaijan Today: A Mixed Picture	p. 125
Conclusion: Looking Beyond Agrarian Reform in Azerbaijan	p. 131
The Impact of Land Reform: Individualization of Farming	p. 132
Overall Agricultural Policy Environment	p. 140
Overall Governance and Institutions	p. 143
Statistical Annex	p. 151
References	p. 177
Index	p. 183
About the Authors	p. 187
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