Azernews.Az

Friday March 29 2024

Agriculture Ministry establishes smart greenhouses

28 August 2018 15:28 (UTC+04:00)
Agriculture Ministry establishes smart greenhouses

By Kamila Aliyeva

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture is establishing seven modern ‘smart greenhouses’.

This was announced by director of the Research Institute of Vegetable Growing under the Ministry of Agriculture Elmar Allahverdiyev.

He informed that the ministry started cooperating with Israel in the production of hybrid seeds of vegetables and melons.

“Within the framework of cooperation, the installation of seven modern ‘smart greenhouses’ on the territory of the institute with an area of ​​6.14 hectares is nearing completion. In addition, for the creation of new varieties of open ground vegetables, the organization of seed production on 30 hectares of land, systems of drip and sprinkler irrigation are being built,” Allahverdiyev noted.

He said that the main purpose of the “National Vegetable and Potato Seed Farming Project” is to provide farmers and entrepreneurs with seeds of vegetables, melons and potato plants at more affordable prices than those imported.

“Within the framework of the project, the company for the processing of vegetable seeds was established for the first time in the South Caucasus,” Allahverdiyev said.

‘Smart greenhouse’ allows to automatically control the climate in the greenhouses, so that weather changes do not have a negative impact on plants. This solution also contributes to reducing costs when growing agricultural products, saving energy, minimizing the impact of the human factor, etc.

Azerbaijan has three major greenhouse vegetable production areas: the western part of the country (mainly Ganja and Shamkir regions); the central region (mainly Absheron peninsula); and the southern region Lankaran and Astara area. Of this area, which is approximately 280 hectares, about 20 percent are antiquated Soviet style greenhouses. Many of these are currently being updated and repaired by their owners.

Additionally, new structures of Israeli, Dutch, Turkish and Italian companies have been built or are in the planning stages of construction.

Furthermore, about 30 percent of these greenhouses are home built polyethylene covered greenhouses with mixed wooden and steel frame materials.

Regardless of geographic location, the majority of greenhouse cultivation systems in Azerbaijan, consist of fundamental climate control components. Additionally, they can provide a greater or lesser amount of climate control, and subsequent plant growth and productivity depending on their design and complexity.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

Loading...
Latest See more