Azerbaijan:Cotton Harvest Starts in Azerbaijan

This year 77,700 hectares of area was covered under the cotton cultivation, which exceeded the index of 2003 by 11,500 hectares or 17.5%. Considering the average productivity at 1,500 kg per hectare, equal to last year, the total output will be not less than 115,000 tons of raw cotton. Only hitch being the weather not conducive during the sowing and vegetative seasons. The sowing of cotton seeds was delayed as it rained in several regions. The sowing was repeated in some places and later, summer proved to be very hot and dry, reducing the effect of irrigation and watering considerably. But, experts have reasons to believe that everything will depend on the weather in September and October. If the weather is unfavorable, the cotton harvest can last until mid-November, as manual labor is used in this sphere now. This is explained with the fact that the combine harvesters are too old and worn, the area of the cotton fields is small and split into separate farms as a result of the agricultural reform. The cotton-processing factories will buy first-sort raw cotton at AZM 1,300 a kilo on average this year. The revenue will be AZM 2 million per hectare. The experts of the Ministry of Agriculture say the profit of the farmers will be AZM 500,000 per hectare, being much less than the indices concerning other agricultural plants.