BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 2
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
Tobacco producers in Azerbaijan have handed over more than 4,000 tons of tobacco to the processing points of Azertutun LLC to date, Trend reports citing the Azerbaijan Industrial Corporation.
In 2020, Azertutun LLC planted Virginia tobacco on an area of 1,520 hectares in Zagatala, Balakan, Gakh and Shaki districts of the north-western region of Azerbaijan, the report said.
The corporation stressed that the tobacco production and processing units operating in these areas have received 4,102 tons of green tobacco so far.
“Currently, there are four points for the production and processing of tobacco in Zagatala, Balakan, Gakh and Shaki districts. A total of 262 tobacco drying chambers were installed at the tobacco receiving points. The advantage of these chambers is that the mass of green tobacco is delivered directly from the fields to the receiving point and placed in the chambers for drying,” the corporation noted.
“Up to 8 tons of tobacco can be placed in each chamber at a time. The tobacco drying process takes 7-8 days. After the completion of this process, dry tobacco is accumulated in warehouses and then sent to the factory for further processing,” said the corporation.
“The points for the production and processing of tobacco have received 1,640 tons from producers in Shaki district, 1,020 tons - in Balakan district, 818 tons - in Zagatala district, and 616 tons of green tobacco - in Gakh district. At present, there are 190 wet tobacco drying chambers installed at processing points in these districts. At the same time, so far, 399.8 tons of dry tobacco have been produced at the processing points,” the corporation added.
On August 10, 2017, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev approved the state program on the development of tobacco and tobacco products in Azerbaijan for 2017-2021. One of its main goals is to increase tobacco productivity to 20 centners per hectare, expand the cultivated area of tobacco to 6,000 hectares and increase production to 12,000 tons of tobacco.
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