Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Zagatala region, also known in Azerbaijan as the ‘Land of Roses’, will soon revive its floriculture industry.

Floriculture in Zagatala is being viewed as a high growth industry. Commercial floriculture is becoming important from the export angle, as floriculture has higher potential per unit area than most of the field crops and is therefore a lucrative business.

A flower processing plant will soon be opened in the region. Flower oil to be produced at the plant will be used in food, cosmetology and pharmaceutical industry.

The project is being realized under the presidential instructions to ensure effective use of economic potential of the country's regions and develop traditional industries.

Project Executor Ibrahim Ibrahimov said that the plant is located on an area of 2.7 hectares.The construction work will be completed this August-September.

Besides, a flower plantation covering a total area of 100 hectares will be established.

Nearly 250,000 rose seeds were delivered from Bulgaria. Nearly 150,000 seeds have already been planted in the plantation area of 50 hectares.

Local farmers expect to harvest 500 tons of flower petals per year from the plantation in several years.

Zagatala region was fame for its roses in the Soviet period. Here on the farm of essential oils located on 150 hectares of land, roses were cultivated for getting oil. About 500 tons of flower petals were gathered annually. Essential oil of rose was used in the perfume industry, and was sold on the external markets.

The Zagatala plant has a small production capacity now producing only 20-25 tons of rose petals per year. Unfortunately, toughening requirements on the world market result in stiff competition, thus complicating production and sell of essential oil.

There was a time when Azerbaijan could have locally sourced its own flowers. During the Soviet era, the republic was a major flower producer and the leading supplier of flowers to Russia.

Today, though, Azerbaijan’s floriculture industry has shrunk to a fraction of its former size. The country’s main export markets are Georgia and Russia, and last year it earned a mere $13,700 on the export of 42,000 cut roses to Georgia, and $13,400 on the export of 268,000 carnations to Russia.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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