İstifadəçi:Ganja Agribusiness Association

Ganja Agribusiness Association

Ganja Agribusiness Association (GABA), located in is a regional non-governmental organization whose mission is to promote sustainable development of the country’s agrarian sector through human potential development, knowledge and resource transfer.  The association was established in 1996 by a group of leading scientists and working with the Eurasia Foundation and funded by USAID, registered four years later by the Minister of Justice of Azerbaijan.  

Although GABA operates in the areas of the West, Northwest and Central regions of Azerbaijan, GABA has a broader strategy to include all of Azerbaijan in its efforts. GABA has demonstrated significant developmental progression and built strong partnerships with international organizations, such as IFOAM, USAID, FAO, BP, European Union, World Bank, GIZ, etc. in designing, developing and implementing complex multi –year and multi-phase sustainable rural development projects that stimulate organic agriculture, education and research, food security and environmental protection.  

So GABA’s past project experience and history of project implementation success makes it uniquely qualified to implement a project in the field of agriculture. In just the past 17 years, GABA has managed and implemented more than 50 for long-and short-term projects in the field of agriculture. To support its project and developmental activities GABA has on staff experienced project managers and experts, financial analysts, extension specialists with decades of agribusiness experience. 

GABA is the primary organization in Azerbaijan promoting organic agriculture. GABA render significant services embracing training and education, extension services, marketing, scientific researches, ecological monitoring of soil, business planning, certification and crediting. GABA is always active in its participation in the conferences, meetings, fairs, workshops conducted both in Azerbaijan and internationally. GABA’s main publications include Organic Agriculture Journal with 48,000 unique editions, informative handouts (booklet, brochure, leaflet, one pager, etc.) distributed among 470,000 target farmers, 85 scientific books and numerous online materials. The meanwhile, GABA has several affiliated organizations such as “Amin Credit Union” LLC, “Azekosert” Certification Body, Agro-Innovations LLC, Agro-Marketing LLC, etc. and support centers throughout Azerbaijan. Besides that, both the national and international media have recognized GABA on many occasions. There have been nearly 200 television broadcasts and 800 print articles that highlighted GABA’s work.

Our goal is to play an active role in fostering excellence, cooperation and interaction with international partners and supporters. This has helped us to disperse our messages to a much wider audience

Achievements of GABA:

• 1996 - GABA was the first to provide consulting and information services in the agrarian sector in Azerbaijan ();
• 2000 - GABA was registered by the Azerbaijan Minister of Justice;
• 2002 - GABA became a member of the International Federation of Organic      Agriculture Movements (IFOAM);
• 2002 - GABA started to allocate credits to entrepreneurs through “Amin” Credit Union Ltd. in order to provide its members with financial services
• 2003 - GABA has created a coalition with several NGO’s in the region;
• 2004 - GABA developed a draft law on “Organic Agriculture” and submitted to the Azerbaijan Parliament
• 2005 - The first Organic Certification Body in Azerbaijan “AZEKOSERT” was established with the support of GABA
• 2006 - The first “Environmental and Soil Quality Monitoring Laboratory” was founded largely due to GABA’s and Azerbaijan State Agrarian University’s extraordinary efforts and guidance
• 2006 - Monthly Journal, Organic Agriculture was started and currently has a circulation of 1000;
• 2007 - GABA initiated the opening of the Organic Agriculture field of study at the Azerbaijan Agricultural Academy (now known as Azerbaijan State Agriculture University);
• 2008 - President Ilham Aliyev approved the Law on Organic Agriculture which was proposed, drafted and sponsored by GABA;
• 2009 - The legal normative acts on organic agriculture were developed and approved;
• Since 2010 GABA was awarded the ISO 9001-2008 certification by SGS according to its high quality management practices.
• 2010 - GABA together with the first national Organic Certification Body AZEKOSERT LLC for the first time represented Azerbaijan at BioFach World Organic Trade Fair held in Nuremberg, Germany
• 2010 - Prof Amin Babayev - GABA’s Chairman is awarded the Gold Order from the International Academy of Ecology and Safety – St Petersburg, Russia; recognizing his work in the field of sustainable development and organic agriculture development in Azerbaijan
• 2010 - Awarded with certification ISO 9001-2008 from Swiss certifying body SGS as a first NGO applying quality control system in Azerbaijan
• 2011 - “Electronic Library” was established at Azerbaijan State Agrarian University (ASAU) for the first time in Ganja-Gazakh economic region within the framework of EU Tempus IV project jointly implemented by GABA and ASAU
• 2012 - GABA’s representatives have participated in the trainings on Agricultural Management, Development Modules for Rural Communities and Marketing of Agricultural Products within International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) in USA
• 2013 - Awarded with ISO certification by SGS United Kingdom Ltd, on the Development, Management and Implementation of Organic and Conventional agriculture projects and the provision of related consulting services
• 2014 - For the first time GABA established “Smart Azerbaijan Farms” on open-field and greenhouse vegetable growing, apple and raspberry gardens, and bee-keeping
• 2015 - Gakh Regional Experimental and Resource Center on Organic Agriculture was established as a result of close cooperation built between GABA and Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS)
• 2016 - Agro-Innovations LLC was established due to GABA’s extraordinary efforts and guidance in order to transfer innovations and new technologies into Agriculture
• 2017 - GABA for the first time in Azerbaijan developed “AgroMarketing.az” online and mobile platform for the sale and marketing of agricultural products

Website

http://gaba.az