TİKA Established a “From Village to City” Sales Center in Azerbaijan

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) built a marketplace in Baku in order to bring farmers and consumers together directly.

The sales center called “From Village to City” enables farmers to sell their products to the residents of the city. The sales center was built under a canopy construction on an area of 960 sq. meters next to Ganjlik Metro Station, which is a busy location in Baku. In addition to stalls; a children’s playground, a stage for various educational and social events, product promotion stands, an information center, and food and beverage points were built in the center. Built in a busy location, the sales center has a capacity of 170 sellers, even though the number of sellers is limited to 101 due to the pandemic, and enables farmers to offer their products to urban consumers in an environment that complies with food security and hygiene rules without any payment or additional expense.

Unlike the traditional marketplace model for basic agricultural and village products, farmers pack the products they will offer at the sales center, in order to increase their added value and ensure that they attract the residents of the city and tourists and appeal to more consumers.

Built as part of the project implemented in cooperation with Agricultural Supply and Equipment Inc., owned by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the sales center was put into service on December 21, 2020.

The opening ceremony of the sales center was attended by Inam Karimov, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Erkan Özoral, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Baku; Teoman Tiryaki, TİKA’s Baku Program Coordinator; Abdin Ferzeliyev, Governor of Narimanov Raion; and the residents of the city.

At the ceremony, Inam Karimov, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, thanked TİKA for its support for the construction of the sales center.

Ambassador Erkan Özoral also thanked TİKA for implementing this project, which enabled producers to offer vegetables, fruits, and food products to consumers directly at the most affordable prices.

In his statement, TİKA’s Coordinator Teoman Tiryaki noted that the residents of the city would purchase natural village products from villagers at more affordable prices in the marketplace.