At a regional agricultural meeting in Goygol on June 12th, Deputy Agriculture Minister Zaur Aliyev announced a target that, on the surface, sounds modest: 300 new semi-intensive sheep farms, an increase in sheep meat production of at least 9% by 2030, and a 10% rise in animal numbers aimed at restoring self-sufficiency. "This means a transition from traditional sheep farming to a more productive and better managed model," he said. To understand why this target matters, and why it is being framed as a transition rather than simply an expansion, requires understanding something about Azerbaijani geography that the country's wheat and fruit statistics tend to obscure: much of Azerbaijan is, agriculturally speaking, a difficult place to raise cattle.

Approximately one-half [some would even say more than half] of Azerbaijan is covered by semi-desert and arid steppe, including the Shirvan plain, Gobustan lowland, Absheron Peninsula, and significant areas of the Kura-Aras lowland. These are regions characterized by little rain, little plant life, and marked seasonal contrasts, making cattle raising too expensive for most of the interior of the country. Traditionally, the people who lived in these regions did not organize their animal husbandry system based upon cattle. Instead, they used the species best adapted to semi-desert life, namely sheep and goats, whose ability to feed upon plants that are inedible to cattle and their need for less water than cattle to produce meat made them economically viable in these areas. In addition, there was the camel, an important component of the animal husbandry of the Absheron Peninsula and Gobustan region because it could adapt........

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