of Europe. Subsequent to the collapse of American cotton exports in the 1860s, Azerbaijan became a large-scale cotton producer, often planted instead of food crops. Though farmers showed resistance to the policies of forced cultivation, it continued nonetheless, with increases through the Russian Revolution. In the late 19th century, Russia tried to establish a supply of cotton by stimulating Azerbaijan cotton production through the gratuitous distribution of cotton-seed but the climate proved to be less hospitable here than elsewhere. Modern times Production rose again with the central government's need for cotton at low, fixed pricing, leading to a doubling of land used for cotton production between 1920–1922. By the early 1930s, half of the country's cotton lands were collectivized. The Azeri industrial magnate Zeynalabdin Taghiyev (d. 1924), founded Azerbaijan's first cotton mill. Hamida Javanshir (1873–1955), an Azeri female intellectual, organized employment for women at a cotton processing plant that she had established in Azerbaijan, and in 1912, she participated in the 13th Congress of the Cotton Producers of the Transcaucasus. Until the late 1980s, Azerbaijan was one of the world's leading cotton producers, producing high yields of raw cotton up to 2.5 tonnes/ha and a gross annual production of 400–500 thousand tonnes. Azerbaijan has the necessary climatic and soil conditions to support such an industry and make it thrive. At peak, Azerbaijan produced 831,000 tonnes of cotton in 1981 and the cotton industry in Azerbaijan accounted for in excess of 25% of earnings from the plant industry in Azerbaijan. Since the beginning of 1987, major cotton sewing industries on collective and state farms, loss of cottons outlets due to low value and decentralization of cotton management to smaller less knowledgeable farmers with a low level of agricultural provisions has resulted in a marked decline in the industry. Also, many firms underwent a transition into "variety mixing" such as Jekot and by privatized cotton cleaning plants and widening their activities to distribute the allocated seeds, fuel, fertilizers, and other necessary items. Another reason for decline has been conflict with the Armenians who, since the demise of the Soviet Union, have moved into parts of Azerbaijan. In 1999, seed cotton production amounted to 101,000 tonnes, from a harvested area of . Though cotton production has declined, cotton remains the country's largest cash crop into the decade of the 2000s, and while pesticides and insecticides are costly to the Azeri farmer, none of