A/HRC/43/44/Add.1 farmers and producers against big industrial farmers and holdings in order to maintain accessibility to the market. 37. The Special Rapporteur would like to the draw attention to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which provide a set of guidelines for the Government in preventing and addressing human rights abuses committed in business operations. B. Governmental policies in the agriculture sector 38. The interest of the Government of Azerbaijan in prioritizing the development of the agricultural sector has been reflected in the establishment of new public institutions.16 The creation of those institutions has been accompanied by the adoption of new laws, policies and programmes on the development of agriculture, food security and food safety. In particular, the newly established State Agency for Food Safety has an impressive mandate and power over food safety that incorporates many responsibilities from various State institutions.17 39. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the establishment of laboratories of a high standard and the hiring of technical experts for maintaining food safety. However, food safety is only one part of food security. Food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. 18 To ensure that this happens, ministerial coordination, the definition of clear mandates for each new institution and mechanisms to respond effectively to the implementation of the principles of the right to food are vital. 40. The Special Rapporteur learned of various projects, launched in 2018, to develop small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in the agriculture sector and support the formation of competitive family businesses (the Azerbaijan Business Assistance and Development project); increase agricultural employment and the use of green technology innovations, and improve entrepreneurial and professional skills (the Agriculture Employment Enhancement project); and empower women in agriculture and help them to run their own farms by educating them through training programmes, providing rural advisory services and creating a wide network of stakeholders (the Agro Action of Azerbaijani Women project). All these new projects are good practices that will support small-scale farmers and producers in the future. 41. Although it is very impressive to encounter such a range of new State-run programmes, the Special Rapporteur witnessed their currently limited capacity. They are still at a very preliminary stage of implementation and their impact in the long term remains to be seen. As an example, the Azerbaijan Business Assistance and Development project supports a small number of farmers and there is no clarity as to the criteria for selecting one farmer over another. As of now, the limited availability of the nationwide programme makes it difficult to predict the real impact on farmers’ livelihoods. In addition, the new programmes need to be accompanied by relevant financial resources to ensure their correct implementation. 42. The Government has also enacted incentives to boost the agricultural sector. These measures include import substitution, tax exemptions and subsidies for the purchase of machinery, pesticides and fertilizers. However, small-scale farmers and producers complained about the difficulties they faced in accessing affordable credits. 43. The Special Rapporteur learned about the newly launched e-system project, which uses information and communications technologies as one of the main government tools for improving the services provided to the population. A total of 541 types of services can be 16 17 18 8 In the past two years, the State Agency for Food Safety, the State Agency for Agriculture Credit and Development, the State Agency for Agricultural Services, the State Centre for Agriculture Studies and the State Agriculture Trade Company have been set up. The statute of the Agency is available from http://afsa.gov.az/az/agency/regulation (in Azerbaijani). FAO, Trade Reforms and Food Security: Conceptualizing the Linkages (2003), ch. 2.