The Minister of Agriculture Qurbon Hakimzoda has sharply criticized officials of districts subordinate to the center for ‘poor performance’, especially the irrational use of land resources.
His criticism, directed especially at local officials in Roudaki, Nourobod and Vahdat districts, came during a meeting with reporters in Dushanbe on July 31.
Hakimzoda pointed to the districts’ failure to fulfill their crop sowing targets.
“The irrational use of land resources has resulted in the decline in production of vegetable crops, which the population of the country urgently needs,” the minister said, noting that the ministry pays attention to providing the population with food products more than to the export of agricultural goods.
“Unfortunately, many districts do not use the existing opportunities to increase the production of agricultural products. For example, Roudaki district has failed to meet the forecast indicators for sowing for any agricultural crop, including potato,” said the minister. “Meanwhile, this district along with Vahdat Township is the main one in providing Dushanbe’s bazaars with agricultural products.”
He emphasized that that all farmlands in Roudaki district have been sown with fodder and grain crops, while after harvesting, there is an opportunity to reuse more than 7,000 hectares by growing vegetables.
“However, all categories of farms in Roudaki district are limited to one crop, referring to water scarcity and adverse weather. But this should not be a reason for irrational use of land resources; we need to work and try to get more harvest,” Hakimzoda noted.
According to him, the head of Roudaki agriculture directorate has been fired due to poor leadership.
The minister further noted that Faizobod, Nourobod and some other districts in the eastern part of Tajikistan (Rasht Valley) have also failed to meet the forecast indicators for potato sowing.
As the population increases, so does the demand for agricultural products.
For example, Tajikistan’s current monthly requirements in potatoes are 86,000 – 90,000 tons, while the area sown with this crop is annually 30,000-33,000 hectares.
“Land will not increase, and therefore, it is necessary to increase potato productivity and bring the abandoned lands into farming.”
“Despite all these difficulties, the volume of production of agricultural goods over the first six months has increased by 7.9 percent compared to the same period last year,” the minister said, adding that apricot crops has doubled and some other agricultural crops have increased by between 1.0 to 10.2 percent.
Only production of potatoes, grapes, eggs and honey has reportedly decreased over the reporting period by between 0.3 to 4.1 percent.
