Silkworm cocoon harvesting underway in country
By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade
Sericulture is one of the traditional fields of agriculture in Azerbaijan, the story of which has been counting centuries.
By June 14, Azerbaijan’s silk growers delivered 499.28 tons of wet cocoons to Azeripek LLC.
The silk growers supplied 47.66 tons of wet cocoons on June 14. The biggest amount of wet cocoons was delivered on June 13 – it reached 121.69 tons.
Zardab, Fuzuli, Zagatala, Balakan, Agjabadi, Barda, Sheki, Kurdamir, Gakh and Agdam are the leading regions in the cocoon harvesting.
So far, 59.62 tons of wet cocoons have been harvested in Zardab, 49.72 tons in Fuzuli, 46.87 tons in Zagatala, 43.24 tons in Balaken, 45.20 tons in Agjabadi, 32.65 tons in Barda, 31.98 tons in Sheki, 21.33 tons in Kurdamir, 21.27 tons in Gakh, 16.29 tons in Agdam, 13.11 tons in Goychay, 12.46 tons in Agdash, 12.29 tons in Terter, 11.36 tons in Sabirabad, 9.75 tons in Ujar, 7.48 tons in Lankaran, 5.29 tons in Imishli and 4.85 tons in Jabrayil regions.
Presently, raw cocoons are harvested in 38 regions of Azerbaijan. This year’s forecast predicts that 800 tons of cocoons will be produced.
In 2018, silk growers delivered a total of 513.9 tons of wet cocoons and this figure was 2.1 times more than in 2017.
Sericulture in Azerbaijan is a branch of agriculture that raises the non-oil potential of the country's economy.
As part of the implementation of the State Program on the Development of Cocoon and Silk Production for the period 2018-2025, one million mulberry seedlings were imported into Azerbaijan from of China.
The first results of the state program are already evident. If in 2015, a total of 236 kilograms of cocoons were collected in the country, in 2016 already 70.7 tons were produced, and in 2017 this figure reached 245.2 tons.
In accordance with the state program, it is envisaged to increase production in the industry to 6,000 tons of cocoons annually by 2025.
--
Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz