The Agricultural Research Center held an AGR conference on the problems of the agricultural sector.

The Agricultural Research Center under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan held an event titled "CICA Conference on Agricultural Sector Insights: Harnessing General and Partial Equilibrium Models for Evidence-Based Management" in accordance with the 2025 Confidence-Building Measures Plan of the Consultation on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). Representatives of CICA member states, as well as scientists and researchers in the agricultural sector, participated in the online event.

Welcoming the participants of the event, Parviz Aliyev, Advisor to the Director of the Agricultural Research Center, said that agricultural systems around the world face many challenges, ranging from market volatility and disruptions in trade relations to climate change and resource constraints. Therefore, the development of evidence-based policies is very important for ensuring food security, efficient allocation of resources and sustainable growth in the agricultural sector. General Equilibrium Models (GEMs) and Partial Equilibrium Models (PEMs) are powerful analytical tools that allow policymakers and researchers to assess the economic outcomes of policies, market dynamics, and external shocks.

He also stated that this conference supports the economic dimension of the Consultation on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia by strengthening analytical capacity, promoting evidence-based decision-making, and enhancing cooperation among member states.

Later, in his speech at the event, Mr. Farid Demirli, Deputy Secretary-General of the AEC, stated that this initiative is in line with the Economic Criteria of the CICA, strengthens regional capacity in the field of policy analysis, promotes information exchange, and supports sustainable agricultural development. In addition, he noted that the event contributes to promoting cross-country cooperation, achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of "No Hunger", as well as jointly combating the problem of food security and climate risks.

Parviz Aliyev then provided information on the objectives of the event. He noted that the purpose of organizing this event is to demonstrate the role of general and partial equilibrium models in the analysis of agricultural markets, trade policies and production systems, to expand the opportunities for politicians, economists and researchers to apply these models in decision-making, to share best practices of CICA member states and other countries in using GPM and PTM to address problems such as supply chain disruptions, trade shocks and climate change, to develop international cooperation in agricultural modeling through the exchange of information, methodology and experience, and to explore the integration of GPM and PTM with other models for a more comprehensive sector analysis.

The expected results of the initiative are to strengthen technical capacity through training seminars, identify joint projects and partnerships, establish a network of experts and organizations for joint agricultural modeling, and strengthen the contribution of the agricultural sector to sustainable development.

Parviz Aliyev also provided the event participants with general information about the work done in the agricultural sector of Azerbaijan in this direction, the activities of the Agricultural Research Center, the databases created, including EKTIS, the Electronic Price Information System for Agriculture, and the Farm Data Monitoring System.

In the presentation part of the event, initially, Dr. Kamrul Hasan, an employee of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, made a presentation entitled “Sustainable pest management through transgenic plants: Results of a study conducted on Bt eggplant in Bangladesh”. In his speech, he spoke about plant pests and modern measures to combat them. Then, Dr., a member of the Bangladesh Cotton Development Board, made a presentation. Tasdigur Rahman gave a presentation titled “Impact of Cotton Farming on Rural Livelihoods: A Comparison of Cotton Farmers and Non-cotton Farmers”, Motaher Hossain, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Gazipur Agricultural University, gave a presentation titled “Isolation and Evaluation of Biofilm-Producing Endophytic Microorganisms for Biological Control of Magnaporthe oryzae in Rice”, Dan Alluf, an expert from Israel, gave a presentation titled “Capacity Building and Integration, Collaboration for Agricultural Transformation”, and Dr. Jahangir Alam, Senior Specialist, Cotton Development Board, Bangladesh, gave a presentation titled “Cleaning the Cotton Topsoil Reduces the Field Duration of Cotton, While Increasing Yield and Quality”.