Rahim Mir Kazim oglu Allahverdiyev was born in 1907 in the village of Artiz near Iravan (territory of Eller district) in a peasant family. His grandfather Seyid Allahverdi, who lived for 130 years, was born in Iravan in 1760. That is, those territories were their ancestorial homeland.

Rahim Allahverdiyev’s family was forcefully displaced. During this period, Rahim lost his father, brothers and sisters. His uncle Mammadbagir took care of him from a young age and in 1922 their family moved to Iravan. After graduating from the city seventh grade school, he was accepted as a deputy editor in the printing house of “Zengi” (later “Soviet Armenia”) newspaper.

In 1929, R.Allahverdiyev, who graduated from the Faculty of Labor, entered the Azerbaijan Agricultural Institute in Baku and graduated with excellent grades in 1932. For two years, he worked as an agronomist at the state farms of the Ararat trust in Iravan and at Gamarli (Artashat).

In 1934, R.Allahverdiyev was appointed as a teacher of agronomy classes at the Iravan Azerbaijani Agricultural Technical College, the Higher Agricultural School and the courses that prepare mass agricultural personnel in Iravan. He spent a lot of time on the training of Azerbaijani agricultural personnel in Armenia.

Rafiq Allahverdiyev was a renowned scholar who had a successful career in the field of science, specialized in his expertise, and gained experience in agricultural sciences. He had maintained connections with experienced scholars and sought advice from them. In 1934, his first work entitled “What Kolkhoz foremen should know” was published. In 1935, the young specialist’s books “Soil Cultivation Characteristics in Agricultural Regions” and in 1937 “Agricultural Machinery” were published.

In 1938, Rahim Allahverdiyev entered the post-graduate course at the Iravan Agricultural Institute and graduated from that course in 1941 with excellent grades. In September 1941, R.Allahverdiyev, who defended his thesis at the scientific council meeting of Iravan State University, was awarded the title of candidate in biological sciences.

In the same year, another significant event happened in the scientist’s life, and he was promoted to the post of deputy commissar of public education of the Armenian SSR. After working in this position for a year, he was appointed the head of the Political Education Department.

Since 1943, R.Allahverdiyev worked as the head of the Propaganda and agitation department in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia. In 1945, he was appointed to a new position – editor-in-chief of the “Soviet Armenia” newspaper, an organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia and the city committee of Iravan (later this position was called editor), at the same time he taught at the Azerbaijani department of the Iravan State Pedagogical Institute. During these years, R.Allahverdiyev was awarded with a number of orders and medals, the Order of the Badge of Honor, the medals “For the Defense of the Caucasus” and “For Valiant Work in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945”.

During the elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Rahim Allahverdiyev, who was a member of the Central Election Commission of the Armenian SSR, was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR from 210 constituency of Vorontsovka (Kalinino) district in 1947. In the same year, he was appointed as the head of the Department of Agriculture of the Central Committee of Armenia.

In 1948, during the resettlement of Azerbaijanis from Armenia, Rahim Allahverdiyev was offered the position of deputy head of the Department of Agriculture of the Central Committee of Azerbaijan. He headed the Ministry of Agriculture of the republic for one year.

In the following years, R.Allahverdiyev first headed the “Azerbaijan Perennial Plants” Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR, and later the “Azerbaijan Research Horticulture, Viticulture and Subtropical Plants” Institute, which later became an independent scientific center. He was the first director of the Institute.

1960 was one of the most successful years in the life of R.Allahverdiyev. Three books of the scientist were published that year: “Issues of the development of viticulture in Azerbaijan”, “Agronomy rules for growing grapes in the Azerbaijan SSR”, “Viticulture and winemaking in 40 years in the Azerbaijan SSR”. The first two books were published in Baku, and the third in Iravan in Russian.

In 1962, another work of this outstanding specialist in viticulture, “Composition of grape varieties of the Azerbaijan SSR”, was published in Russian.

In 1965, Rahim Allahverdiyev successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on “Biological characteristics of grapevines in the mountainous regions of Azerbaijan” at the scientific council of the Biology Department of Iravan State University and received the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences. He was the first doctor of sciences and professor in the field of viticulture in Azerbaijan.

R.Allahverdiyev’s experiments on viticulture in individual mountainous regions and their successful results were later applied to the drylands of almost all mountainous regions of the republic. In short, the development of viticulture in the mountainous regions of Azerbaijan is connected with the name of this hardworking scientist.

R.Allahverdiyev’s scientific and social activity was not enough. Up to 30 scientists, candidates of sciences or doctors have been trained under his guidance or with his help.

From 1965 until the end of his life, he worked as head of the department of the Scientific Research Institute of Horticulture-Viticulture and Subtropical Plants of Azerbaijan.

Author of more than 100 scientific works, many monographs, doctor of biological sciences, professor, active public figure R.Allahverdiyev died in 1975.

Source:
Əsgər Zeynalov, İrəvan ziyalıları (Bakı: Oğuz eli, 1999)