DUSHANBE, May 17, Asia-Plus — At present Tajik cotton farmers owe some US$280 million to domestic and foreign creditors, Shavkat Bozorov, head of the unit for settlement of cotton farmers’ debts, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on May 17.
He named non-systematized conduct of affairs as one of factors contributing to appearance of debts of the cotton-growing farms in the country. “We do not have yet specific data on a total debt because we have not yet received all necessary collation documents from farming units.”
According to him, 11,000 cotton-growing farms have to date been working in Tajikistan. Of them, 90 percent have debt to foreign and domestic creditors.
Large futures companies such as “Ismoili Somonis – 21
st
Century” holding, “Olimi Karimzod” opened joint-stock company, “HIMA” corporation are currently operating in Tajikistan.
“Nobody is going to write off the cotton farmers’ debts; we just intend to find ways of seeking solution to this problem and help farmers come out of this situation,” Bozorov said, noting that at present an independent commission is working in 14 pilot districts to find out reasons for appearance of the cotton farmers’ debts.
According to him, the cotton farmers’ debts to the creditors have resulted from rising fuel prices, low management, and untargeted use of investments.
We will recall that the independent commission for settlement of the cotton farmers’ debts was set up in Tajikistan in May 2005.
In the beginning of this year, Tajikistan appealed to international finance institutions for help in resolving the problem of the cotton farmers’ debts. In this connection, a presentation of the World Bank project for sustainable development of agriculture in Tajikistan will beheld in the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) on May 23.
