DUSHANBE, June 3, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Farkhor and Hamadoni districts are the first to start a grain-harvesting campaign in Khatlon’s Kulob region, according to Abdullo Rajabov, a leading specialist with the Kulob agriculture.

On June 2, grain farms in the mentioned district produced 20 tons of wheat and the wheat yields were 2.6 tons per one hectare.

In the meantime, Ahmad Safarov, a leading specialist with the Kulob agriculture directorate in charge of agricultural machines, said that 112 grain harvesters had been made ready in the region for this year’s grain-harvesting campaign.  Besides, 200 other grain harvesters in the region are under private ownership.

This year, all the ten districts in the Kulob region have planted cereals on an area of totaling 89,000 hectares.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), 1,121 grain harvesters have been made ready throughout the country for this year’s grain-harvesting campaign.  This year, the country has planted grains on the area of 216,000 hectares, including more than 120,000 hectares of irrigated lands.  The MoA specialists expect Tajik farmers to produce more than 1 million tons of grains this year.