Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has told farmers and persons working in difficult conditions as well as those employed in heavy industry and whose profession is related to providing food security to avoid the Ramadan fast, citing COVID-19 infection and need to work.
In his message of congratulations on the occasion of the beginning of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, Tajik leader, citing the country’s religious authorities, notes that fasting harms persons working in difficult conditions as well as those employed in heavy industry and whose profession is related to providing food security.
Rahmon urged farmers and people working in difficult conditions to use this dispensation and delay the fast until a more favorable time.
By all indications and according to the analysis and forecasts of experts, 2021 is significantly different from the previous years, Rahmon noted
Due to climate changes, low water and drought, various infectious diseases, including COVID-19, the situation with the provision of the world's population with food is reportedly getting more complicated every day.
As a result of rising prices and food shortages, the population of 20 countries of the world is in a state of hunger and impoverishment, the president noted.
In this context, Tajikistanis must mobilize all efforts, resources and opportunities for maximum production of products and its reservation, Emomali Rahmon said.
“Especially this year when Ramadan falls at the peak of the sowing campaign and creation of the future basis for harvesting, we must think, first of all, about production, supplying our families and reserving food,” the head of state noted.
It is to be noted that around 65 percent of the Tajik workforce is involved in agriculture.
Emomali Rahmon also called on those having enough financial opportunities to show generosity and help orphans, disabled people, poor and needy families.
This year, the holy month of Ramadan will start in Tajikistan on April 13.
Tajikistan is likely to suffer foreign currency problems to pay for imports — including some food items — as remittances from labor migrants working in Russia slump due to the coronavirus pandemic.
