DUSHANBE, September 22, 2008, Asia-Plus — Students from four of eight Sughd universities have been sent to cotton plantations to this date, Asia-Plus has learned from Rustamjon Usmonov, head of the Sughd department for science and higher educational institutions.
The remaining four universities will send their students to cotton fields within the next few days. Students will wok in cotton fields for one month.
Last year, 12,000 students from Sughd universities worked in cotton fields and yielded some 18 percent of the total amount of cotton gathered in the province, Usmonov said.
Meanwhile, Khujand State University sent 2,500 of its 11,000 students to cotton plantations last weekends.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Khujand State University Chancellor Nosirjon Salimov said that they are picking cotton in the Zafarobod district. “They will stay in the district till October 21,” the chancellor said.
The Sughd province has pledged to yield 172,100 tons of cotton this year. Last year, Sughd farmers yielded 124,833 tons of raw cotton, reaching 72.9 percent of last year’s target that had been determined at 171,300 tons.
