Despite measures taken by Tajik cotton growers to gather, Tajikistan has failed to fulfill this year’s national target cotton on time and fulfill the national cotton target, which has been determined at more than 429,600 tons, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
An official source within a MoA says the country yielded 344,400 tons of raw cotton in 2023, which comprises 85 percent of last year’s national target.
Experts say there are several reasons for the decline in cotton production in 2023: adverse weather conditions; unsuccessful experiments with foreign seeds; low wholesale prices for raw cotton; lack of incentive for cotton growers; reduction in cotton planting areas; and some others.
According to the MoA Crop Production Directorate, Tajik farmers last year planted cotton on 186,000 hectares.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan intended to reduce cotton fiber exports by 17 percent last year and increase the volume of processing cotton into manufactured goods in the country itself.
There are more than 100 cotton ginning factories now operating in Tajikistan and they reportedly produce a total of more than 100,000 tons of cotton fiber.
