BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 6
By Sadraddin Aghjayev – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s farmers are engaged in plant growing and livestock breeding on thousands of hectares of the country’s territories liberated from occupation [Azerbaijan’s territories liberated from Armenian occupation in the 2020 Karabakh war], Director of the Center for Agrarian Science and Innovation under the Ministry of Agriculture Akbar Abbasov said in an interview with Trend.
According to Abbasov, currently, agricultural work is being carried out in areas that have been cleared of mines.
"We all know that there is no infrastructure in the liberated territories. Further integration of innovations into these lands will create favorable conditions for us since the future infrastructure of the territories will be built in accordance with the latest standards," he noted.
At the same time, he pointed out that the territories in which agricultural work is being carried out are almost 100 percent equipped with a modern Pivot irrigation system.
This system has been functioning in Azerbaijan for several years and has proven itself well from a technological point of view, the director of the center reminded.
"The yield on the lands where the Pivot irrigation system is installed is 70-80 centners per hectare, which is a very high indicator not only for Azerbaijan but also for the world," Abbasov further said.
According to him, to date, by means of satellite imagery and ongoing monitoring, territories suitable for agricultural activities have been identified.
"These data will enable us to determine in the future on which lands will be the most efficient crop production and on which livestock breeding. Moreover, on the basis of the data obtained, we plan to expand the range of new agricultural crops for Azerbaijan at the expense of quinoa (grain crops), lawn grass ryegrass and others," the director also noted.
Besides, according to him, the lands on which farmers will be engaged in beekeeping, vegetable growing and gardening have been determined.
"To date, land plots have been already been allocated for the mentioned types of activities. In the field of gardening, for the first time in Azerbaijan in the territory of Guba district, a ‘smart garden’ was laid out on an area of 15 hectares, in which the entire process is fully automated,” Abbasov said. “Similar gardens will appear in Karabakh. Practice shows that the garden on an area of 17 hectares can be served by only four people through high technologies.”
The center’s director noted that state-of-art technologies are used in the field of vegetable growing in Azerbaijan.
"Up to date, Azerbaijan has integrated technological solutions from countries such as the Netherlands, Israel, US, Germany and others. Dutch solutions for the agricultural sector are integrated in Azerbaijan in the shortest possible time,” he added. “Vegetable growing in the open and closed ground is practiced in Azerbaijan. LED lighting systems are installed in greenhouses, thanks to which the process of fruit ripening is accelerated by 30-40 percent. Also, by means of LED lighting, we can control the color of the future fruit, its taste and some other parameters.”
Abbasov stressed that a distinctive feature of agriculture in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan is the use of renewable energy sources.
"To provide indoor complexes with electricity, it’s necessary to build a power transmission line, which is a costly process. However, the use of renewable energy sources simplifies energy supply and reduces the cost of production," he concluded.
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