Azerbaijan’s cotton harvest has hit a record level, according to President Ilham Aliyev, who recently said harvesting is under way and productivity per hectare is 27 quintals against 17 quintals last year despite a reduction in area under sowing from 132,000 hectares last year to 100,000 hectares. He called for helping entrepreneurs investing in agriculture.
Aliyev said this while receiving the recently-appointed executive heads of five districts on November 12, according to an Azeri newspaper report.Azerbaijan's cotton harvest has hit a record level, according to President Ilham Aliyev, who recently said harvesting is under way and productivity per hectare is 27 quintals against 17 quintals last year despite a reduction in area under sowing from 132,000 hectares last year to 100,000 hectares. He called for helping entrepreneurs investing in agriculture.#
In the first nine months of this year, the non-oil industry of Azerbaijan grew by 15 per cent and agriculture by more than 7 per cent, he said.
Last year, 233,000 tonnes of cotton were harvested from 132,000 hectares and this year over 270,000 tonnes were harvested from over 100,000 hectares, he informed.
According to State Statistical Committee data, 281,506 tonnes of raw cotton were harvested in 2019—34.5 per cent higher compared to the 2018 figure of 230,400 tonnes.
The districts that yielded the largest volume of cotton in 2019 are Saatli (40,000 tonnes), Barda (32,576 tonnes), Agjabadi (31,029 tonnes), Beylagan (28,389 tonnes) and Bilasuvar (28,095 tonnes).
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)