Mountainous Shirvan Economic Region ( az, Dağlıq Şirvan iqtisadi rayonu) is one of the 14 economic regions of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. It borders the economic regions of Shaki-Zagatala, Guba-Khachmaz, Absheron-Khizi, Shirvan-Salyan, and Central Aran. The region consists of the districts of Agsu,

Ismayilli Ismayilli ( az, İsmayıllı) is a city and the capital of the Ismayilli District of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 28,776 in 2021 History The territory of the district was part of the Albania state, which was formed in the late 4th cent ...

, Gobustan, and

Shamakhi Shamakhi ( az, Şamaxı, ) is a city in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Shamakhi District. The city's estimated population was 31,704. It is famous for its traditional dancers, the Shamakhi Dancers, and also for perhaps giving it ...

. It has an area of . Its population was estimated to be at 324.8 thousand people in January 2021.

Geography

Most of the area is mountainous, and it shares borders with the

Aran economic region Aran Economic Region ( az, Aran iqtisadi rayonu) was one of the 10 economic regions of Azerbaijan. It bordered Iran to the south, as well as the economic regions of Upper Karabakh, Ganja-Gazakh, Shaki-Zagatala, Mountainous Shirvan, Absheron, ...

in the south, the Shaki-Zagatala in the northwest, the Guba-Khachmaz in the northeast, and the Absheron economic regions in the east. Azerbaijan has a wide variety of flora and fauna. Within the territory of the Republic, there are around 4,100 species of vegetation. The climate is semi-desert and a dry slope ( Gobustan) mild warm climate with dry summers (Gurjivan '* Shamakhi - Maraza plateau), moderately warm climate with dry winters (the areas with 1000 – 1200 m altitudes in the North - Eastern slopes of Great Caucasus Mountains), temperate climate with equal distribution of precipitations during the year (the Northern part of Ismaili region and North - Western part of Shamakhi) and mountain tundra climate (Babadag peak zone over 3000 m altitude).

Economy

Manufacturing

The region houses a small manufacturing industry including

carpet weaving A knotted-pile carpet is a carpet containing raised surfaces, or piles, from the cut off ends of knots woven between the warp and weft. The Ghiordes/Turkish knot and the Senneh/Persian knot, typical of Anatolian carpets and Persian carpets, are ...

, container producers, timber and building materials processors and agricultural machinery repair. Its agricultural industries include butter and cheese production, canneries, winemaking and fruit enterprises. From 2004 to 2008, more than 250 enterprises were started in the zone, creating close to 19,000 new jobs. Since 2009, the number of industrial enterprises has increased from 39 to 44. In 2016, under the framework of a program for providing concessional loans to entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan, 30 subjects in the zone received preferential loans totaling 262,000 manat.

Agriculture

Agriculture in Azerbaijan includes crop production and animal

husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, startin ...

. Development priority is given to grain, cotton, vegetables, potatoes, fruits,

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, r ...

, tobacco, livestock breeding, poultry farming and horse breeding. In 2008, crop production accounted for 63.1% of agricultural produce, while livestock production accounted for 36.9%. Between 1995 and 2008, the share of crop production increased by 4.5%, and equally, the proportion of livestock fell by 4.5%. Branches of agriculture include:

wine-making Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and w ...

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ani ...

and grain production. Potatoes are grown in the mountainous regions, and cotton is grown in the plains.

Beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus ''Apis (insect), Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees ar ...

sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, '' Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively stud ...

, gardening, and growing vegetables and fruits are well developed. The area under grape cultivation is 10,324 hectares. The number of livestock reached 729,949 in 2018. Lack of freshwater is a problem.

Transport

The Baku-Tbilisi railway eases access to CIS countries. The Baku-Gazakh highway passes through the Mountainous Shirvan region and connects the capital of the country with eastern regions. Generally, the transport system both intrinsically and interregional is not well-developed in the region of Mountainous Shirvan. Reconstruction of the highways in the region is intended to achieve progress in the connection of the East and the West parts. The Baku-Shamakhi part of the highway was reconstructed. In accordance with the project relating to the organizing transport system, Baku- Gobustan-

round way is renewed. Relating to the State Program on the development of the region's transport system takes into account. The overall length of the highways in the region is 1989 kilometres long. There are both interregional and intrinsically important roads respectively, 33.1% and 66.9%. There was established a regional organization in order to regulate the auto-transport system in the Shamakhi district. The transport system has been improved after the establishment of the regional organization. For instance, roads were reconstructed in the Agsu district and a number of new roads were established between routes such as Baku-Shamakhi-Yevlakh, Agsu-Khanbulag-Nydu, Zargova, Padar-Rahimli-Arabsarvan, Chaparli-Cafarli, Sangalan, Dilman-Xatman, Bozavand, Muganli-Ismayilli, Garamaryam-Ismayilli-Shaki, Basgal-Sulut, Sardahar-Tircan, Garaybayli-Gubakhalilli, Nasimi-Gonagkend, Shamakhi-Zarat-Kheybari, Churyurd-Qizmeydan-Piribayli, Rasadkhana-Avakhil, and Shamakhi-Chol-Goylar. In order to improve transport infrastructure in the region bridges and protective dams were established. Protective dams like Girdiman (220 meters) river and Lahic (550 meters) settlement are some of them. However, there was an established subway between Padar station and Chol-Koyler village in order to improve winery and vine-growing in the region.

Communication

The communication system is launched in accordance with the up-to-date communication services in the region. In this way, financial services were provided in villages via the AzerPocht Platform. Intercommunication in the post web is implemented on the base of the satellite platform. Low connection places like villages there are used as satellite inventories. In accordance with the statistics, there are 56 phones for a hundred families in the region. The main parts of them are in the cities and the lower amount in the villages respectively, 82 units and 45 units.

Education

Secondary schools and branches of higher education institutions (Shamakhi branch of the State Pedagogical University and the University of Odlar Yurdu), as well as cultural institutions, are present. Educational facilities, as well as cultural institutions, are focused in the Parea operated Pikulinski Observatory area.http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/untc/unpan016803.pdf

Biodiversity

Semi-desert plants in the Shirvan plain zone (southern plain of Shamakhi and Agsu regions) reach up to 200 meters altitude. The semi-desert plants in the valleys and large river valleys reach 400–500 meters altitude. The upper limit of a semi-desert plant is 300–400 meters. In the lowland and foothills, sparse forests and shrubs are spread in mountainous terrain. The low mountain-forest zone extends in the form of a narrow belt at the altitude of 500–900 meters. The forests are pale and pale-horned. Iberian oak, oak, and vultures are present. Chestnut and chestnut oak trees are present in Ismaili forests. Hawthorn, peanuts, chips, nuts, cranberries, and cherries grow there. Ismaili State Reserve and parts of the Shahdag National Park are located there.

References

{{Economic Regions of Azerbaijan Economic regions of Azerbaijan