DUSHANBE, May 13, 2009, Asia-Plus — Damage caused to the agrarian sector by torrential rain and resulting floods has been estimated at more than 43.2 million somoni, Saidmurod Bahriddinov, the head of the crop sector directorate within the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), announced at a briefing in Dushanbe today.
According to him, heavy rainfalls have demolished more than 14,000 hectares of areas under crops. The most serious damage has been caused to the cotton sub-sector torrential; torrential rain has damaged 5,390 hectares of cotton fields in the country. Damage caused to the cotton sub-sector has been estimated at 5.39 million somoni, Bahriddinov said.
Besides, heavy rainfalls and resulting floods have also demolished more than 3,600 ha of gain fields, some 700 hectares of areas under vegetables, 124 hectares of areas under potatoes, 718 hectares of watermelon, melon or gourd plantations, etc.
The worst hit region is the Khatlon province, where torrential rain has demolished more than 5,000 hectares of agricultural fields, including more than 3,000 hectares of areas under cotton. Damage caused to the province has been estimated at 10 million somoni.
In the northern Sughd province, 1,900 hectares of agricultural fields have been affected by heavy rainfalls and damage caused to the province amounts to 2.2 million somoni.
In districts subordinate to the center, the worst hit areas are Vahdat (damage caused to the district amounts to 3.5 million somoni), Roudaki (2 million somoni), Hissor (1.5 million somoni), and Shahrinav (1 million somoni).
“We do not yet have information about the actual volume of damage caused to the Rasht Valley because our specialists have not yet returned from the region,” the MoA official noted.
Bahriddinov added that they were currently conducting negotiations with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade as well as donor organizations on providing assistance to the disaster-hit areas of the country.
