DUSHANBE, April 10, 2009, Asia-Plus — The cotton-sowing campaign that was launched in a number of districts in mid-March already is going slowly and farmers have planted cotton on 63,455 hectares so far, which is 19,300 hectares fewer than last year to this date, according to the crop sector directorate within the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
This year, 200,700 hectares of farmland have been allotted in the country this year for growing cotton.
The MoA specialists attribute the slow pace of the cotton-sowing campaign to a number of reasons. One of them is bad weather conditions. Recent torrential rain has seriously affected the cotton-sowing campaign, an expert with the crop sector department said.
However, the main reason hampering the cotton-sowing campaign is insufficient financing of the cottons sector. The issue of providing loans to cotton farmers for this year’s cotton sowing and harvesting has not yet been solved because many farming units failed to pay off last year’s government cotton credit.
Another reason for the slow pace of the cotton-sowing campaign is electricity shortages. In many areas of the Sughd province, pumps supplying water to the cotton fields have not been in operation due electricity shortages, while 73 percent of farmland in northern Tajikistan are irrigated by pumps.
This year, Sughd has allotted 65,200 hectares for growing cotton and cotton has been planted on only 14,286 hectares so far, which is 7,500 hectares fewer than in the same period of last year.
The cotton-sowing campaign is going comparatively well in the southern Khatlon province, where cotton has been planted on nearly 50,000 hectares to this date. This year, Khatlon has allotted 124,400 hectares for growing cotton.
In the meantime, farmers in the cotton-growing districts subordinate to the center have not yet started the cotton-sowing campaign. This year, these districts – Hissor, Vahdat, Roudaki, Shahrinav and Tursunzoda – have allotted totaling 11,100 hectares for growing cotton.
