DUSHANBE, October 15, 2010, Asia-Plus — 147,500 farmers, involved in the ongoing cotton-harvesting campaign, are taking measures to gather cotton on time and fulfill the national target, which has been determined at 300,000 tons of cotton this year, according to the crop sector department within the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
Cotton growers in the southern Khatlon province have gathered some 194,000 tons of raw cotton by October 15, which is some 88 percent of the target. The Khatlon farmers have pledged to produce 194,000 tons of cotton this year. Shahritus, Panj, Danghara and Hamadoni districts have fulfilled their cotton targets and are continuing to gather cotton in addition to their targets. Several other districts in Khatlon, including Sarband, Vaksh, Bokhtar, Yovon and Jomi, are also nearing fulfillment of their targets.
The cotton producing districts in Sughd province have yielded 65,000 tons of cotton to this day, which is more than 70 percent of the target. The target is 92,000 tons of cotton. Ayni district has already fulfilled its cotton target.
The cotton producing districts subordinate to the center have gathered 11,200 tons of cotton by October 15, which is 80.6 percent of the target determined at 14,000 tons of cotton. Hissar district has overfulfilled its cotton target (109.7 percent).
The country has yielded more than 246,000 tons of raw cotton by October 15, which comprises more than 82 percent of this year’s target, the source said.
According to the statistical data from a MoA, more than 30,000 farming units now operate in the country and more than 10,000 of them are engaged in cotton growing. There are 33 cotton producing districts in Tajikistan; 18 of them are in Khatlon province.
