KULOB, March 5, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- A number of farming units in Khatlon’s Kulob region have purchased 45 new tractors.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Ahmad Safarov, a chef specialist with the Kulob agriculture directorate, said the tractors were purchased by the farming units at the end of last December due to the government preferential loan provided for three years.  “They have purchased Russian and Finnish type tractors as well as tractors from the Tajik-Iranian joint venture, TojIron,” Safarov said, noting that restored machine-tractor stations (MTS) operating in the region maintain the tractors.

During the Soviet time, the machine-tractor station was the state-owned institution that rented heavy agricultural machinery (tractors and combines) to a group of neighboring collective farms and supplied skilled personnel to operate and repair the equipment.  The stations, which became widespread and prominent during the collectivization drive in the early 1930s, were instrumental in the mechanization of Soviet agriculture.

“Danghara and Shuroobod districts have two machine-tractor stations each, and the remaining eight districts have one machine-tractor station each,” the Kulob agricultural official said.

According to him, farming units in the Kulob region now have 2,216 tractors; 2,170 of them are private-owned.  Besides, various organizations have another 2,115 tractors, but only 30-40% of them are currently operational, Safarov said, adding that local farmers cannot afford to purchase tractors due to their high prices.  Thus, tractor assembled at the Tajik-Iranian joint venture, TojIron, costs 18,000 US dollars, while Russian type tractor costs 23,000 US dollars, Safarov said.