Azerbaijan launches programme to achieve 100% poultry self-sufficiency

 

Azerbaijan is launching a major programme to expand its poultry industry, introducing new subsidy mechanisms to increase the domestic production of chicken meat and eggs.

The new initiative is part of the State Programme for the Development of Agricultural Production and Processing, Fisheries and Aquaculture for 2026–2030, recently kicked off by the agriculture policy committee of Azerbaijan’s parliament.

According to Rashad Huseynov, director of the Centre for Agrarian Research, the programme targets a 30% increase in poultry meat production and a 27% rise in egg output through the end of the decade. The government’s goal is to raise the country’s self-sufficiency in poultry meat from the current level of around 80% to 100%.

A broad aid
The planned support measures include subsidies for equipment purchases, compensation for loan interest rates and state support for breeding activities. For the first time, Azerbaijan also plans to introduce subsidies for hatching eggs and other breeding products, while addressing land-use issues faced by poultry farms.

The programme also envisages the creation of a facility for deep processing of egg products, supported through preferential loans with reduced interest rates.

Azerbaijan’s poultry sector has expanded in recent years, but the country still aims to strengthen domestic supply chains. In 2025, poultry enterprises produced around 85,100 tonnes of poultry meat and more than 1.19 billion eggs, while total national egg production reached about 2.34 billion units, up 1.8% compared with the previous year.

Rising demand
The expansion plans come as demand for poultry products in Azerbaijan has increased significantly over the past decade. According to Murvat Hasanli, chairman of the Azerbaijan Association of Poultry Meat and Egg Producers and Exporters, domestic demand for poultry meat has nearly doubled since 2016.

Annual demand for broiler products, which stood at around 100,000–110,000 tonnes a decade ago, has now exceeded 180,000 tonnes. On average, an Azerbaijani consumer now eats around 18-19 kgs of chicken meat per year, he estimated.

Solving the land issue
Industry representatives say that one of the main barriers to further expansion of poultry production has been the difficulty of developing new facilities.

Hasanli said the new state programme includes measures to simplify the process of changing land-use rules for poultry companies. Currently, some farms have large areas of agricultural land but cannot use them for building new production facilities.

Faster approval of such changes would allow companies to expand capacity, farmers believe.