Review of agriculture in Azerbaijan ( january-september 2011)

Massive crop harvesting is being observed in the country's agriculture. The collection of cereals and legumes are practically being completed. Based on the State Statistics Committee's data, as of Oct.1, grain crops were sown in an area of 932,900 hectares, yield from which amounted to 2.304.9 million tons (24.7 centners of grain harvest from each hectare). Thus, including maize, the country produced 2.431 million tons of grain. The average yield over the same period last year grew by 4.7 centners from 20.6 to 25.3 centners.

The harvesting of melons and gourds is completely finished, but the collection of potatoes and vegetables is still underway. As of 1 Oct. 2011, the volume of potato crop in Azerbaijan amounted to 923,300 tons, which is more by 0.5 percent compared to the same period in 2010, although the yield of potatoes remained the same in the amount of 144 centners. The collection of vegetables during this period amounted to 1.129.3 million tons, which is more by 2.2 percent compared to 2010. Harvest of melons and gourds totaled 474,500 tons, which is more by 10.8 percent increase compared with the harvest of last year.

The harvesting is also underway in the cotton growing speher. As of Oct.3, the level of harvesting amounted to 17,200 tons. The collection rate is more by 41.6 percent compared to the figure of 2010. This growth was affected by increasing the area under cotton by 41.9 percent compared to 2010. However, Azerbaijan is still far away of the Soviet-era records (1 million tons of crop).

As of Oct.1, the volume of tobacco leaf collection in Azerbaijan amounted to 2,800 tons, which is more by 11.9 percent compared to the same period of 2010. The total cultivated area of tobacco also rose by 6.5 percent. The harvesting is still underway in the country's regions. Tobacco leaves are mainly produced in the economic regions of Sheki-Zagatala, which includes Zagatala, Sheki, Gakh, Gabala, and Balaken.

During the report period, the collection of green tea leaves in the Azerbaijani regions amounted to 453.2 tons. The collection of tea decreased compared to the same period of 2010 by 3.4 percent. Tea is grown in regions such as Lankaran, Astara, partly in Masalli Zakatala and Lerik.

The harvesting of grapes in Azerbaijan totaled 81,300 tons, which is more by 1.5 tons compared to the same period of 2010.

The situation with the harvest of some crops

A stable situation is observed in the production of livestock products. Thus, for the first 9 months of 2011, the production of meat in live weight was 333,600 tons, a 4.5 percent increase over the same period of 2010, dairy products - 1.230.4 million tons (+6.3%), wool - 15.700 tons (6%) and 759.5 million eggs (-15.9%). During the first 9 months, livestock in the country increased by 47,000 ,100 units and reached 2.664 million.

Production of main livestock products, thousand tons

It should be noted that work has begun on the planting of agricultural products in 2012. So, for this purpose, 501,400 hectares of land have been plowed for the autumn sowing, which is 2.8 percent more than last year. An area of 29,400 has already been planted for the seed production next year. Of this are, 12,600 ha accounts for wheat, 16,800 ha for barley.

Thus, in January-September, agricultural output in current prices amounted to 3.876.7 billion manat, which is 7.6 percent more than in 2010. Particularly, crop production increased by 10.6 percent and livestock - by 3.7 percent.