Norwegian

In October farmers from some regions in Azerbaijan visited Norway to learn about farming techniques and exchange views with Norwegian farmers. 

The NHE Agriculture Program focuses on helping farmers to develop and maintain sustainable farming. Recently a small group of Azeri farmers went to Norway on a ten day study trip to visit Norwegian farms and learn more about agricultural techniques. The farmers have varied backgrounds and are involved in greenhouse production and animal husbandry; they are from different regions where the NHE Ganja Agriculture project is operating. 

Learnt a lot

- I learnt a lot from Norwegian farmers, although the trip was short and there was a language barrier. But we saw many new ways of working and new technologies, says Shahin Aliyev, who owns a farm in the Goranboy region and participated at an NHE study tour for the first time. He has, however, worked with NHE for almost ten years. 

- I started to work with NHE in 2003. Then I had only one old cow, but now I have 22 cattle and a good cattle-yard. I know how to work in this field, how to take care of the animals, says Shahin. 

Two other participants, Mehdi Umarov and Malik Amirkhanov have worked with NHE for several years and they are both group leaders for small groups of farmers who work together on agricultural projects. Their farms also serve as demonstration farms for the NHE Agriculture project, other farmers visit their farms and learn about agricultural techniques. 

Hands on training

- Hands on practical training is the best way of learning for farmers, says Clarence Johnson, NHE’s agricultural advisor who accompanied the farmers on the trip. He has forty years of farming experience from Canada and is now using his skills and experience at NHE to advise Azerbaijani farmers on how to improve their farms. 

- The highlight for me during the trip was to watch the Azerbaijani farmers whom we took to Norway see in real life what we have been trying to explain on paper and with pictures. Now they could see the innovations for themselves, says Johnson.

Innovation

The farmers visited a number of different agricultural sites in Norway, ranging from agricultural colleges through dairy farms to local farms. 

- The main difference between farming in Azerbaijan and Norway is the use of technology, says Shahin. – For example we visited one Norwegian farm where only one farmer controlled the whole farm through machinery and technology. But at my farm we need four or five people to do the same amount of work, even if my farm is much smaller than the farms we saw. 

He is however already planning to introduce a new feature at his own farm.

- We will start to use an automatic watering system which will allow cattle to have access to water all the time. My hope is that NHE will continue its work in Azerbaijan. We haven’t reached the finishing line yet, we are half way there, but without NHEs help it will be very hard for us to finish and to make the necessary innovations at our farms, says Shahin. 

- We plan to encourage local farmers to implement the simple solutions first; this will improve the production and quality of their end product which, again, will help farmers attain sustainability quicker, adds Johnson.