Blueberries are a relatively new fruit for Azerbaijan, the harvest season runs from June until the end of July.
Berry Blue was founded by Mehri Ahmadova and her husband five years ago and the couple now grow blueberries on 21 hectares of open ground.
"Our blueberry harvest in Azerbaijan is from June till the end of July, this is also when we export, but the berries can be kept in cold storage and are sold until mid-October on the domestic market. We grow the Duke, Legacy and other licenced varieties.
"During the main season we export to Russia, Belarus and Middle East. We are also looking to expand exports into Europe. We have good logistics to these countries via road and air, but we need our country to help subsidise the transportation of blueberries into Europe. We would target Italy and Germany as main markets in Europe."
The weather so far during the growing season has been good, according to Mehri. "The only problem experienced in Azerbaijan is wind which can damage the berries, but until now everything has been ok this year, it has been quite hot, it's not usually that hot in April and this could bring the harvest forward."
The blueberries are mostly grown outside, but last year they started an experimental project to grow the bushes in a hectare of polytunnels to bring the season forward. "We have been able to get these blueberries one month earlier so we already started the harvest one week ago. We are still calculating the cost of doing this, we had to heat the tunnels so will see, this is the first time we have had a harvest so we will do the maths, before look at expanding the production undercover
"The cost of labour in Azerbaijan is quite cheap compared to Europe, but sometimes we have to compete with the cherry growers for manpower as the seasons are similar, for example last year it rained quite a lot and the cherry season was delayed so it was almost at the same time as the blueberry harvest and labour was hard to find. Our labour supply is very local, our pickers come from the surrounding area."
The blueberries are packed under customer's brands as well as We Grow's own brand, Berry Blue.
"70% of our production goes for export as it is quite a new product in Azerbaijan, we are the first blueberry growers in the country, this year one more company has started growing blueberries. I see the demand already growing on the domestic market, our season is only for three or four, but there are now imported blueberries from Chile, Morocco and Peru and the demand for imported good has grown this year."
For more information:
Mehri Ahmadova
Berry Blue
Tel: +994 50 270 70 71
[email protected]