Tea-growing in Azerbaijan: today and tomorrow

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a small part of tea estates remain in Azerbaijan. Experts say that in that period there were 13,000 hectares of tea estates, now only 1,000 hectares remain, and it does not meet the country's demands for tea.

Azerbaijan imports a large part of tea raw material from Sri-Lanka and India, because the local production meets only 1-2 % of tea consumption of the population.  Azerbaijan's annual tea consumption is 18,000-20,000 tons, out of, 350 tonnes are produced in the country.

Experts say that tea growing should be developed not only in Masalli-Lenkoran region, but also in Zakatala-Balakan region as it was in the Soviet period.   According to the Azerbaijani Agricultural Ministry, a state program on the development of tea growing for 2012-2020 years has been prepared. According to the program, which is expected to be adopted soon, 10 more tea estates are planned to be built until 2020. The ministry officials say that the establishment of new tea processing plant may cause a drop in tea price.

The tea is good for health. It prevents thirst immediately and has own colour. But sometimes its  colour changes several hours after being made. Experts say too much extracts in the tea cause the change.   

Now fabrics pay 0.70-0.80 manat, sometimes 1 manat per kilogram of tea.   By the way, in the beginning of tea season a kilogram of local and most expensive tea is sold for 70-80 manat, the cheapest for 20 manat.  According to Statistics Committee, annual tea consumption per Azerbaijani family is 1 kg 700 gr.  It means average monthly tea consumption per capita is 145 grams.


/itv.az/