DUSHANBE, April 20, 2010, Asia-Plus — Cotton-sowing campaign is progressing in Tajikistan despite recent heavy rains, Deputy Agriculture Minister, Isroill Sijouddinov, told reporters in Dushanbe on April 20.
According to him, areas under cotton have been increased this year by 13,000 hectares compared to 2009. “This year, 183,400 hectares have been allocated to cotton cultivation and to-date, farmers have planted cotton on 88,100 hectares,” the deputy minister said, noting that they plan to continue increasing cotton productivity by 0.2-0.3 ton per hectare.
“Compared to 2008 cotton yields last year increased by 0.26 ton per hectare,” said Sijouddinov, “If we manage to keep this rate, we can reach an annual target of 600,000 tons raw cotton by 2015.”
He added that recent heavy rains and mudflows caused by them had inflicted serious damage on the country’s agrarian sector. “The worst hit area is the Vose district in Khatlon province. Heavy rains and mudflows have damaged some 1,500 hectares of agricultural fields in Vose,” said Sijouddinov, “A special government commission has been set up to assess an actual damage caused to the agrarian sector by recent natural disasters.”
He noted that the majority of the damaged agricultural fields could be rehabilitated as the Ministry of Agriculture had seed reserves.
