DUSHANBE, May 20, 2010, Asia-Plus — The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) will help Khatlon farmers rehabilitate the flood-affected farmlands and provide them with cotton grain and vegetable seeds for sowing an area of a total of 500 hectares, Narzullo Dadaboyev, a spokesman for a MoA, said in an interview with Asia-plus.
According to him, rehabilitation works have already started in the Hamadoni district, where some 300 hectares of cotton fields have been rehabilitated.
The ministry also intends to plant multi-fruit gardens for the flood affected people on 10 hectares in the Kulob region on its own until the autumn, the spokesman said.
He added that recent floods and mudflows had damaged 1,456 hectares of areas under crops in Khatlon’s districts, including 851 hectares of cotton fields, 354 hectares of areas under grains, 102 hectares of vegetable fields, 10 hectares of potato fields, 7 hectares of watermelon, melon and gourd plantations and 125 hectares of pastures. Besides, floods and mudflows have killed 1,000 head f cattle and sheep and goats in the province.
