"Agrarian Innovation and Startups" forum was held at the Ganja State Philharmonic named after Fikret Amirov under the joint organization of Azerbaijan State Agrarian University (ADAU) and Agrarian Innovation Center (AIM).

First, the participants of the event visited the monument of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev located in the central square of the city and laid flowers in front of it.

Then, more than 30 startups from different parts of the country, which were presented at the Ganja State Philharmonic, were presented to the event participants.

At the event, the National Anthem was first played, and then the dear memory of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev and the martyrs who died for the territorial integrity of our country was commemorated with a minute's silence.

Speaking, Minister of Agriculture Majnun Mammadov said that today the water and land resources in the world are approaching the dangerous limits of their production capabilities. With the growth of the world's population, the demand for food increases, therefore the pressure on land and water resources increases. Global climate change, water scarcity and salinization are causing large areas of land to fall out of crop rotation. All this makes the introduction of innovations in the agricultural field even more urgent.

"Our country has created favorable conditions for the development of the agrarian start-up ecosystem, including the realization of innovative ideas of young people. I would like to note that on the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture, various start-up contests, contests and hackathons on the application of agricultural technologies are held in our country. The main purpose of these competitions is to support the promotion and application of innovations in the agricultural field, and the improvement of agricultural management using innovations and digital technologies. I would also like to add that startups today have the opportunity to present their projects to leading large companies operating in the agrarian field," the minister added.

Rector of Azerbaijan State Agrarian University (ADAU) Zafar Gurbanov spoke about the importance of holding the "Agrarian Innovation and Startups" forum. The Rector said that the implementation of such measures, especially in the regions, will give special impetus to the development of startups in the regions.

Niyazi Bayramov, the head of the Ganja City Executive Authority, Tahir Mirkishili, the chairman of the Economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship committee of the Milli Majlis, and Anar Jafarov, the director of the Agrarian Innovation Center, made speeches.

After the speeches, a video about ADAU and agrarian start-ups was shown.

Later, Anar Jafarov moderated with the participation of ADAU rector Zafar Gurbanov, head of the Caucasus Ventures venture fund Mammad Karim, head of the KOICA ODA Azerbaijan project Soo Hyun (Simon) Rhee and co-founder of the Kök Projekt company Sami Hakim in the participation of the "Agrarian Startups Ecosystem" situation and challenges" panel discussion was held.

The forum continued in the second half of the day with the presentation of successful start-ups in the agricultural field.