Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The volume of the cotton harvest in Azerbaijan is projected to be 100,000 tons per year, Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov told reporters in Baku on November 1.

The minister said that heavy rains, unfortunately, prevent the cotton harvest, despite the fact that all necessary equipment has been purchased for this purpose.

"I think that if the weather conditions will be good in November, we will be able to make up for lost time, and achieve our goals. To date, we have collected over 44,000 tons of cotton. You can ask whether weather conditions will impact on the quality of cotton? I can say that we are fully satisfied with the imported cotton seedlings. Of course, the rains may indirectly influence this process, but, on the whole, I think, no serious damage will be observed," he said.

Azerbaijan collected 44.080 tons of cotton as of October 31, and this is 1.6 times more than the same period last year, according to the State Statistics Committee.

In the 1970-1980s, cotton production was of crucial importance for the national economy, accounting for approximately 25 percent of agricultural revenue. Then, Azerbaijan harvested a million tons of cotton per year.

2016 is expected to be a period of development of cotton growing in the country, as the government is keen to support cotton production to give a new life to this industry.

Cotton is regarded as a strategic product and it is not by chance that it is called “white gold”. The country has big plans for next year and the preparations for 2017 have already begun.

Meanwhile, the recent presidential order envisages the state support of cotton production, awarding producers of cotton with grants in the amount of 0.1 manat ($0.06) for each kg of seed-cotton sold to processing enterprises.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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