A scientific-practical seminar was held on the topic "The status of cotton growing in today's changing climate, problems and solutions" dedicated to the "Year of Solidarity for a Green World".
The seminar was attended by Farman Karimov, Deputy Head of the Plant Growing Organization and Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Farid Firudinov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Cotton Producers Association, a representative of the Samukh District Executive Power, professors and associate professors of the Azerbaijan State Agrarian University (ADAU), heads and representatives of the State Agrarian Development Centers (DAIM) of cotton-growing regions, large companies engaged in cotton procurement and processing, scientists, specialists and cotton farmers.
At the seminar, the institute’s director stated that climate change is one of the global problems worrying the world. Azerbaijan has not remained unaffected by global climate change. Over the past 100 years, the average annual temperature in Azerbaijan has increased by 0.4–1.3°C.0Agriculture is among the sectors most vulnerable to climate change. Everywhere in the world, agriculture depends on weather conditions. The issue of adapting agriculture to climate change concerns not only representatives of the agrarian sector but also scientists. Plant breeders, due to climate change, are developing new crop varieties that are more resistant to water shortages or excesses, as well as temperature fluctuations. Climate change forces farmers to continuously look for new practices to achieve stable yields. Referring to cotton farming, it was emphasized that breeding works are being carried out to obtain new early-ripening and high-yielding varieties suitable for soil and climate conditions. The director noted that the varieties created by the institute’s breeders – “Ganja-160”, “Ganja-132”, “Ganja-182”, and “Ganja-183” – are considered more resilient to external stress factors, early-maturing, and productive.
At the event, Farman Karimov, representative of the Cotton Producers Association of Azerbaijan, Farid Firudinov, chairman of the Azerbaijan Cotton Producers Association, Nizami Seyidaliyev, professor of ADAU, Rafail Tahirov, chief agronomist of “Azerpambiq ASK” LLC, Parvin Rzayev, agronomist of “P-Agro” LLC, cotton farmer Afras Askerov, heads of the State Agricultural Research Institute, and specialists of the Institute made speeches and gave reports on the impact of climate change on the development of cotton growing, the tasks facing cotton growing, the proper organization of seed production, factors affecting the increase in cotton productivity during the vegetation period, as well as the economic importance of fiber yield.
Later, experts and farmers discussed ways to solve problems encountered during planting and stated that interest in this area has increased in recent years, and that holding events of this type will contribute to increasing crop production.
Finally, a review of breeding experiments and seed planting areas was conducted, and information was provided about the breeding work carried out at the institute.