Azerbaijan expects rich grain crop in 2016

/By Azernews/

By Fatma Babayeva

Azerbaijan expects to have a profuse grain harvest in 2016 due to heavy rainfall this year.

Elbrus Alizadeh, deputy director of the Geography Institute under the National Academy of Sciences to the Trend news agency that a decrease will be inevitable, however, in the crops of some fruits.

Rain that fell during April caused damage to the yield from early-blossoming fruit trees such as cherry plums, peaches, sweet cherries and other cherry trees. Therefore, harvest of these fruit trees will be slightly lower during this year but overall, a rich harvest is expected for the whole year, the deputy director said.

In general, the amount of precipitation in the country was above the norm in the first quarter of this year, in particular in January, said Asif Verdiyev, senior hydrologist of the Hydro-meteorological Forecasts Office at the National Hydrometeorology Department.

Now the weather forecasters predicts drought in the territory of Azerbaijan in the period from July 5 to August 20.

This unfavorable weather condition is forecast to occur in the Kur-Araz lowland, namely in Saatli, Sabirabad, Salyan, Bilasuvar, Kurdamir, Imishli, Neftchala regions, Gobustan and Absheron peninsulas.

The drought is unpleasant for fruit crops, Farmer Hasan Hasanov told Trend. "It mainly affects on the yield of fruits ripening in autumn," he emphasized.

Overall, Azerbaijan is keen on developing grain production in the country in order to be fully self-sufficient on this product.

About 3 million tons of grain was produced in Azerbaijan during the last year. Approximately, 1.7 million tons of these products were wheat.

Azerbaijan cannot meet internal demand for grain products by 100 percent. The country imports grain from both Russia and Kazakhstan, but Russia is the main supplier.

A project on creating large grain-growing farms in Azerbaijan is underway, and several similar farms have already been created.