DUSHANBE, July 17, 2012, Asia-Plus — Over the first six months of this year, Tajikistan has exported nearly 65,000 tons of cotton fiber, which is 41,000 tons more than in the same period last year, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Sijouddin Isroilov, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 17.
According to him, increase in cotton exports has resulted from increase in cotton production in the country. “Last year, Tajikistan produced more than 415,000 tons of raw cotton, which is 130,000 tons more than in 2010,” Isroilov noted.
This year, Tajik farmers have reportedly planted cotton on nearly 200,000 hectares, which is 4,000 hectares fewer than in 2011.
Meanwhile, the deputy minister noted that the government would repay cotton producing farms’ debts that accrued until the last year. “The government will write off a 560 million somoni debt of the cotton producing farms that accrued in the previous year,” he noted.
Isroilov added that the government had not provided loans to the cotton producing farms this year, “because the farms themselves were not interested in them.”
