Azerbaijan relies on cotton to curb economic woes

After being plagued by a host of economic problems like a substantial decline in oil prices, cuts in public investment, currency depreciation and a slowdown of trading partners' economies, the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan is planning to revive its cotton sector to bring its economy back on track.

For this purpose, the government has bought new machinery and spent hundreds of millions of US dollars to increase the cultivated area. According to Azertag, when visiting a cotton plantation in early September of this year, Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev pointed out that while in the 1970s, one million tons of cotton were picked every year, this amount dwindled to a mere 30,000 tons in 2015.

Thus, Aliyev has issued an order on government support to boost cotton-growing in the country, according to which cotton manufacturers will receive a subsidy of 0.1 manat (0.6 US dollars) for each kilogram of raw cotton sold to processing enterprises in 2016. This is also an incentive for more workers to take up cotton farming and to increase the number of jobs in the cotton sector.

Aliyev hopes that the area on which cotton is cultivated will reach 128,000 hectares by next year and that at least 200,000 tons of cotton, if not up to 300,000 tons, can be produced. In addition, the government plans to invest about 100 million US dollars in building textile plants in the city of Ganja and the Mingachevir region that can use raw cotton and wool and turn them into finished products.

Because Azerbaijan has the largest agricultural basin in the region and dedicates about 54.9 percent of its area as agricultural land, many people are dependent on this sector. While cash crops, grapes and cotton account for over half of all production, citrus fruits and vegetables for an additional 30 percent. However, child labour has been observed in the agricultural sector, especially for the production of cotton. Before the country can become truly competitive in this area, it will have to adhere to international standards.

Photo: landscape in Maralgol, Azerbaijan / Niyaz Bakili (Flickr)