KHUJAND, July 5, 2010, Asia-Plus — Cotton farmers in the northern Sughd province are experiencing an acute shortage of mineral fertilizers that may negatively affect this year’s cotton harvest, according to the Sughd agriculture directorate.
The source at the Sughd agriculture directorate says fertilizer shortages have resulted from halting of Tajikistan-bound freight cars on Uzbek territory as well as the recent events in Kyrgyzstan, which provides the bulk of Sughd’s mineral fertilizer imports. “This has led to significant rise in prices of mineral fertilizers in the area,” said the source, “Thus, the price of a 50-kilogram sack of saltpeter has risen from 60.00 somoni to 100.00 somoni. Many local farmers do not have money to purchase mineral fertilizers because banks now finance the cotton subsector reluctantly.”
All this may seriously affect this year’s cotton harvest in the province, the source added.
This year, Sughd cotton farmers plan to yield 99,600 tons of raw cotton from 55,539 hectares. Last year, 55,087 hectares were allocated to cotton production in Sughd province and local farmers were expected to yield 109,200 tons of cotton; however, they produced only 87,100 tons of raw cotton in 2009.
