DUSHANBE, August 6, 2013, Asia-Plus — Over the first seven months of this year, all categories of farms have produced 519,451 tons of wheat, which was 115,527 tons more than in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
“This year, farmers have planted wheat on 222,914 hectares and to-date, they have harvested wheat from 180,741 hectares (81 percent),” an official source at a MoA told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, average wheat yields in the country have increased from 26.4 tons/ha in 2012 to 32.1 tons/ha.
In all, 297,691 hectares have been allotted to cereals this year and to-date, farmers have harvested 610,186 tons of cereals from 212,300 hectares, 148,814 tons more than in the same period last year, the source noted. Average yield for all Tajikistan’s cereals has increased from 2.5 tons/ha in 2012 to 29.2 tons/ha.
Specialists from the MoA say they expect good potato harvest this year. According to them, 22,600 hectares have been allotted to potato cultivation this year and farmers are expected to produce 474,315 tons of potatoes. To-date, Tajik farmers have reportedly produced 92,500 of potatoes and average potato yields were 20.5 tons/ha, 2.2 tons more than in 2012.
Tajikistan is also expected to produce 107,900 of fruits and 70,900 tons of grapes this year. To-date, Tajik farmers have reportedly produced 33,400 tons of fruits and 2,900 tons of grapes.
Meanwhile the monthly report for July,
Monitoring and Early Warning in Tajikistan
, says the share of agriculture in GDP in January-May 2013 increased by 8% compared to January-May 2012. Agriculture production totaled 1,830.8 million somoni (384.8 million USD), including crop production, for 361.7 million somoni (76 million USD), or 11.7% of total, and livestock for 1,469.1 million somoni (308.7 million USD) or 7.1% of total.
