BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 9
By Fidan Babayeva – Trend:
Some 80 percent of the main income from the sale of saffron accounted for the Azerbaijani domestic market, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Association of Saffron Producers and Exporters Adalat Abdullayev told Trend.
“About 150-200 kilograms of saffron were grown in Azerbaijan in 2019,” the chairman said. “There will be the same volume this year if the sales volume does not increase. In general, saffron production and sales volume greatly increased thanks to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture.”
“If we sow a third of the Absheron district with saffron, we will be able to produce up to 500 tons of saffron per year and earn up to $5 billion,” Abdullayev said. “We will be able to compete with Iran. If we sow saffron in Sheki, Shamakhi, Salyan, Agdash and almost all Azerbaijani districts, we will have no equal in the world and this will bring the income worth from $5 billion to $10 billion a year, that is, more than income from oil and gas export."
“The establishment of a saffron center where agricultural issues, as well as medical aspects, including the effect of saffron on people's health, will be considered, will be the most optimal solution,” the chairman added.
"When cleaning saffron, we encounter certain difficulties, but we have already taken measures to resolve these issues,” the chairman said. “We think which products can be made from saffron to sell the finished product."
The Association of Saffron Producers and Exporters was established in Azerbaijan on June 4, 2019. To date, about 15 hectares of land were sown with saffron in Baku’s settlements, while during the period of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the area sown with saffron reached several hundred hectares.
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