DUSHANBE, July 21, 2008, Asia-Plus  - Cotton fields in some districts of the Khatlon province have been affected by pests, the Deputy Agriculture Minister, Mahmoud Qodirov, said. 

According to him, the worst hit area is the Hamadoni district, where more than 50 percent of cotton fields have been affected by cotton noctuid.  

“One hang glider of the Khujand-based public association, Khujand-Cotton, is being used to spray toxic chemicals and insecticides, and three other hang gliders are supposed to be delivered to the district in the near future,” said the deputy minister, “Every day, the hang glider treats up to 220 hectares of cotton fields.”

He reminded that some 26,500 hectares of cotton fields in all five cotton-growing districts of Khatlon’s Kulob region had been affected by pests.     

            According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), there are 493 farming units in the Hamadoni district.  248 of them are engaged in cotton growing.