Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Cotton sowing has begun in the Agdam region of Azerbaijan, Chief Executive of the region Ragub Mammadov told Trend on April 12.

He said that cotton is currently sown on an area of 500 hectares.

“Overall, we have planned to plant an area of 3,000 hectares. Acreages are prepared in accordance with agrotechnical rules. All machinery and equipment needed for planting are in a state of readiness, and high-quality seeds have been imported," said Mammadov.

Chief Executive added that it is also planned to drill 30 artesian wells in accordance with President Ilham Aliyev’s decree “On additional measures to accelerate socio-economic development of Agdam region”. He added that the documents necessary to start the drilling of wells are ready.

Azerbaijan expects to see a real growth in cotton production, as the government has focused on giving a new life to this industry. At the recent conference on the development of cotton-growing in Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev said that the government has been providing large state support to cotton growing since last year.

Mammadov also noted that the cotton sowing in Agdam should be completed before the end of April.

“We were planning to finish planting before April 20. However, unstable weather conditions led to some delays. We will try to finish cotton sowing by the end of April," he said.

The industry has already created 64,000 jobs in Azerbaijan during last year, while more 200,000 jobs on cotton-growing are expected to appear in the country this year.

Overall, promoting the non-oil sector of economy is one of the most important parts of the strategy of economic development determined by the Azerbaijan government. This is evidenced by the statistics that show the increase by 10 percent of Azerbaijan’s non-oil export in the first quarter of this year.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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