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Saatli cotton farmers expect high harvest

21 September 2017 15:50 (UTC+04:00)
Saatli cotton farmers expect high harvest

By Sara Israfilbayova

Cotton-growing and textiles have always been a tradition in Azerbaijan, where people have been engaged in cotton growing for centuries. Here, the cotton trade with Western countries started centuries ago.

Today, the state is making every effort to revive the cotton industry, providing huge support to entrepreneurs.

Year 2016 was a turning point from the perspective of cotton-growing in the country. Last year, cotton was planted on an area of 51,000 hectares, while the harvest hit 90,000 tons. That is three times more than in 2015.

The country has big plans for 2017, as the State Investment Program envisaged large funds for the development of cotton-growing. This year, cotton was planted in more than 20 regions of Azerbaijan.

Currently, cotton harvesting continues successfully in Saatli. Cotton planters of the region collected more than 5,000 tons of cotton from their fields and sent them to reception centers.

During the day, some 350-370 tons of crops are harvested from the fields.

The Agriculture Department of Saatli reported that cotton was planted on17, 220 hectares. Last year, this figure was 8,109 hectares.

This year, Saatli’s entrepreneurs plan to harvest 35,000 tons of crops. Last year, 12,000 tons of white gold was harvested in Saatli.

In March, President Ilham Aliyev attended a conference in Saatli on the development of cotton-growing in Azerbaijan.

Then, the head of state said that in the future cotton growing will develop even more intensively, will gain even greater scope, thus bringing great benefits to both citizens and the state.

He said the development of cotton-growing will make an outstanding contribution to boosting light industry.

In early 2017, the State Program for 2017-2022 was approved with an aim of strengthening measures directed at developing this sphere. The purpose of the State Program is to develop cotton growing, increase export potential in this sphere, ensure employment of the rural population and increase the production of cotton.

The new goal of the state is to bring the cotton production up to 500,000 tons by 2022 from the current 260,000 tons.

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