DUSHANBE/KULOB, March 27, Asia-Plus - A cotton-sowing campaign in Tajikistan will officially start on April 1, according to the ministry of agriculture and environmental protection (MoAEP).

The source at a MoAEP said that the last preparations for the cotton-sowing campaign are nearing completion.

“We are checking stocks of fuels and mineral fertilizers and preparedness of agricultural machines for the sowing campaign,” the source said.    

According to figures provided by the State Committee for Statistics, Tajikistan has had 18,94 tractors as of March 1, 2007.  Of them, only 11,530 or 62 percent are in good order. 

Tajikistan plans to have sown cotton on 256,222 hectares this year, which is 38,000 hectares fewer than last year.  Cotton farmers in Khatlon will sow cotton on 160,000 hectares, Sughd – 76,750 hectares and districts subordinate to the center (RRPs) – 19,652 hectares.  

In the meantime, some districts in the southern province of Khatlon have already started the cotton-sowing campaign.  

In the Kulob region of Khatlon, for example, cotton farmers have to date sown cotton on 402 hectares of lands. 

Rajabali Kulabekov, a chief agronomist with the Kulob agriculture directorate, said that five cotton-growing districts in the Kulob region of Khatlon will have sown cotton on 40,650 hectares by April 28, which is 1,375 hectares more than last year. 

Cotton farmers of the Kulob region have pledged to yield 79,000 tons of raw cotton this year.  “The productivity is expected to be 1.94 per hectare,” Kulabekov said.