DUSHANBE, December 8, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan has produced 1.25 million tons of cereals, including 864,000 tons of wheat, this year so far, Saidmurod Bahriddinov, the head of the crop sector department within the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
This year, all categories farms have planted cereals on 462,000 hectares; of that, 380,000 hectares have been allotted for wheat production, he said.
“Last year, Tajik farmers produced 952,000 tons of cereals, including some 700,000 tons wheat,” Bahriddinov said.
According to Safar Mahmadiyev, the head of the MoA department for economic policy and forecasting, current Tajikistan’s annual requirements in cereals are 1.7 million tons, including 1.2 million tons of wheat. “However, we have never planned to meet the country’s requirements in cereals on our own, because it is not so income-generating production for Tajikistan,” stressed Mahmadiyev, “For us, it is more profitable to produce cotton, for example.”
He added that they planned to have produced 900,00 tons of wheat this year. This year’s grain harvest is the largest ever gathered in Tajikistan.
