Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

tural activities is 1.5 per cent of the total popula- tion of the Balkan Region. The Balkan Region has the largest area of agri- cultural land, most of which is pasture. The cul- tivated area of the Balkan Region is the smallest in the country, at just 1,100 hectares, and is used for growing fruits and vegetables (Turkmenstat 2012). The main crop produced in the region is wheat. The Balkan Region’s contribution to the total agricultural production in Turkmenistan is 4 per cent of fruits and berries, 0.5 per cent of potatoes and 3.6 per cent of vegetables. There is minimal risk of the coast becoming polluted by chemicals due to the lack of irrigated areas (An- namukhamedov et al. 2014). More than 33.4 per cent of the country’s total camel herd is concentrated in Balkan Region, which is also home to 16.7 per cent of the country’s sheep. In addition, the region pro- duces meat (8.5 per cent of the national total), eggs (6.8 per cent of the national) and wool (15.1 per cent of the national total) (Turkmen- stat 2018). The soil condition of 7,013,300 hectares of land reserves could be improved, which can be

broken down in terms of soil salinity: no sali- nization – 1,659,500 hectares (23.7 per cent); light salinization 1,098,800 hectares (15.6 per cent); average salinization – 1,183,700 (16.9 per cent); high salinization – 2,251,300 hect- ares (32.1per cent); very high salinization and solonchaks – 820,000 hectares (11.7 per cent) (Turkmenistan 2002). Agriculture is important for people’s livelihoods and is a contributing sector to the economy. In Azerbaijan, the agricultural sector provid- ed 36.3 per cent of total official employment, demonstrating people’s dependence on the sec- tor for work, though it contributed little to the country’s GDP (Azerbaijan 2018). This situation is seen in all Caspian littoral states, but the gap between GDP contributions and total employ- ment is generally smaller than in Azerbaijan. The agricultural sector employed 18 per cent of official employment in Iran in 2015, which was the same percentage as Kazakhstan in 2016. In general, the percentage of agricultur- al employment is slightly declining, with the most rapid decline experiencing in Kazakhstan from 30 per cent in 2008 to 18 per cent in 2017 (World Bank 2017b).

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