DUSHANBE, October 7, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajik grain farms are expected to produce 1.2 million tons of cereals this year, Safar Mahmadiyev, the head of economic prognosis department within the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), told reporters in Dushanbe today.
“As of October 1, 2009, all categories of farms produced 1.097 million tons of cereals, with 90 percent of them being wheat, and they have to produce another 100,000 tons of cereals from more than 35,000 hectares mainly in the mountain areas in order to reach the index of 1.2 million tons,” Mahmadiyev said, adding that it is the largest grain harvest ever gathered in Tajikistan.
The agricultural official noted that Tajikistan’s annual requirements in wheat are now 1.26 million tons and wheat produced to this date is enough to meet 65-68 percent of the country’s annual requirements.
Speaking to reporters, the head of the MoA crop sector directorate Saidmurod Bahriddinov noted that compared to last year average cereals yields rose 8 percent this year and the average wheat yields rose 9 percent, reaching 2.8-3.0 tons per one hectare.
According to him, farmers have had such good grain harvests because priority was given to winter crops that have higher productivity.
According to data of the MoA, this year Tajik farmers have planted cereals on an area of 462,600, including 232,300 hectares of irrigated lands and 230,200 hectares of dry-farming lands; wheat has been planted on 278,500 hectares, including 148,400 hectares of the irrigated lands.
Last year, Tajik farmers planted grains on 295,000 hectares and produced 943,000 tons of cereals, including 649,300 tons of wheat.
