DUSHANBE, July 18, 2016, Asia-Plus – The Ministry of Agriculture has reportedly overstated the sizes of areas under cotton.
In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Rajabboy Ahmadzoda, the head of the State Committee for Land Management, Geodesy and Cartography, revealed on July 18 that the Ministry of Agriculture has provided inadequate information about areas under cotton.
According to him, their specialists have conducted check measurement of areas under cotton and the check measurement findings show that 160,600 hectares have been allocated to cotton cultivation this year, which is 14.4 percent or more than 27,000 hectares less than figures provided by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, more than 166,700 hectares have been allocated to cotton cultivation this year, which is more than 7,000 hectares more than last year.
“More than twenty cotton-ginning enterprises in Sughd province are not in operation because of lack of raw materials,” said Ahmadzoda. “Many cotton ginning enterprises are also standing idle in Khatlon province and districts subordinate to the center for the same reason.”
We will recall that Tajik Minister of Agriculture Mahmadtohir Zokirzoda told reporters in Dushanbe on January 22 that cotton growing districts will plant cotton on 190,000 hectares.
According to statistical data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Tajik farmers last year planted cotton on 160,000 hectares and they were expected to yield 390,000 tons of raw cotton. However, they yielded only little more than 270,000 tons of raw cotton in 2015, which was 99,000 tons less than in 2014.
