DUSHANBE, April 17, Asia-Plus — The Ministry of Agriculture is ready to finish the sowing campaign in time, Agriculture Minister, Voris Mahmadaminov, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on April 14.
According to him, cotton-growing farms daily sow some 12,000-15,000 hectares with cotton.
“To date, 99,215 hectares of lands have been sown with cotton, which is 38.4 percent of a total area of cotton fields,” Mahmadaminov said.
This year, it is planned to sow with cotton more than 258,000 hectares and the national cotton target has been determined at 550,000 tons of cotton, according to the minister.
Voris Mahmadaminov noted that there were all opportunities for successfully finishing the sowing campaign. “This year, more than a half of prepared cottonseeds is of high quality,” said the minister, “And the farming units have been provided with fuel and mineral fertilizers much better than last year.”
At the same time, he noted that rising fuel prices might tell on cost prices of the product. Besides, some farming units experience shortage of agricultural machines and spare parts and some 60 percent of the agricultural machines have been prepared for the sowing campaign so far.
“Recently, we met with senior representatives from the companies investing in the cotton sector and they pledged themselves to supply the necessary quantity of spare parts,” the minister said.
