DUSHANBE, June 6, Asia-Plus - Lasting many years growing of cotton as monoculture is one of the main reasons for exhaustion of farmlands, Mr. Saulius Smalys, Environmental Officers at the OSCE Center in Dushanbe, told journalists in Dushanbe on June 5.    

“The soil has become exhausted so much that it does not provide desirable productivity, which is currently only 1.5-1.6 tons per hectare,” said Mr. Smalys, “International experience shows that cotton productivity lower than 2 tons per hectare is unprofitable.”

According to him, falling harvests have also brought to increase in debts of cotton farmers to their creditors.  “By the end of 2005, Tajik cotton farmers’ debts have amounted to some US$200 million, while now they owe US$288 million to domestic and foreign creditors,” the Environmental Officer at the OSCE Center in Dushanbe said.    

 Mr. Smalys noted that areas under cotton could be use for growing other crops but they had become saturated with pesticides so much that the soil would contain them for further 30-40 years.   

“A dose of fertilizers on the agricultural fields of Tajikistan exceeds the permissible norm four-five times, especially in the Khatlon province,” he noted.