According to the order of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev dated May 14, 2014, annually on June 5, Azerbaijan established the celebration of the Day of Water Resources and Land Reclamation Workers.
It must be said that initially on June 5 in the Republic this professional holiday was celebrated as Land Reclamation Day, according to the order of the President of Azerbaijan № 2199 dated May 24, 2007. But according to the new order, in connection with the establishment of the Day of Water Resources and Land Reclamation Workers, the order of the President of Azerbaijan dated May 24, 2007 was canceled.
Land reclamation and water management play an important role in the economy of Azerbaijan. As part of the regional development program of Azerbaijan, over the past few years the amount of foreign investment in this sector has increased several times.
Without exaggeration, we can say that the history of land reclamation in Azerbaijan goes back several centuries. For example, in the Mil and Mugan steppes, traces of irrigation canals dating back to the first years of our era have been preserved. Later, in the 7th century, with the formation of the state of Girdyman, the economic life of Atropatena and Albania again perked up noticeably: cultivated areas expanded, irrigation structures were built, gardening and sericulture developed.
After the arrival of Arab invaders at the end of the 7th century and the conquest of Azerbaijan in the 8th century, arable land, gardens were completely destroyed, irrigation canals and dams were destroyed. As a result of the Mongol capture of Azerbaijan in the 12th century and later in 1237 - 1238, irrigated agriculture declined. As a result of these invasions, siltation occurred in many canals, and the soils were waterlogged and salineized.
The first modern technical irrigation systems were built in 1901-1917 on the territory of Mugan. In the 1920s and 1930s, the construction of drainage structures expanded. In 1958, the Upper Karabakh Main Canal was put into operation with water taken from the Mingechaur Reservoir through a 1.3-kilometer-long tunnel. The length of the – canal is 172 kilometers, it was designed to irrigate 100 thousand hectares of land.
Currently, the leadership of the Republic is paying special attention to issues of land reclamation and water management. Azerbaijan has developed and operates a regional development program, according to which significant funds and investments are allocated for the development of land reclamation.