Media Review June 11, 2019

The situation with the country's water supply, the production of pomegranates, and the increase in the number of divorces are the topics of today's media.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes that water supply is a strategic issue from an economic and social point of view. This is doubly relevant for countries with small water reserves.

The commissioning of the reservoirs Tovuzchay, Shamkirchay and Takhtakorpu significantly improved the water supply of the western and northern regions of the country, as well as the Absheron region.

In the period from 2004 to 2018, irrigation canals with a length of 4.2 thousand km were stretched. Work was done to provide water to 413 thousand hectares of land and to improve the reclamation situation on an area of ​​264 hectares.

166 thousand hectares of new irrigated lands are included in the sowing turnover. This year, it is planned to improve the water supply of cultivated areas of 8,362 hectares in 254 settlements. To meet the population"s need for drinking water, 2,273 artesian wells were commissioned.

The website Qafqazinfo writes about the situation in the production of pomegranates. In 2018, Azerbaijan exported over 9,300 tons of pomegranates, and total production was 170,000 tons.

In other countries, the yield is 25-40 tons per hectare, and in Azerbaijan this figure was 7 tons in 2018. There are plans to increase the production of pomegranates to 15-20 tons. There are problems in educating pomegranate producers, since they use the methods remaining from the Soviet period. There is also the problem of a shortage of cash when paying wages to hired workers.

The website Trend.az writes about the increase in divorces in the country over the past 5 years. In 2018, 62,484 people got married, which is the lowest figure in the last 5 years. The main reason for divorce is the difference of characters, lack of children, and interference in the life of a young family.

The newspaper Yeni Musavat writes about the resumption of book fairs. The author speaks with the head of the publishing house Ganun, Shahbaz Khuduoglu, about the decline in interest in books.

According to Khuduoglu, book fairs have been organized annually for 10 years, but now the metropolitan mayor"s office is preventing this.

The purpose of these fairs is to acquaint the reader with new works. Khuduoglu also touched the 18% VAT. He believes that this tax on books should be eliminated. In Azerbaijan, the number of reading population is low.