DUSHANBE, July 1, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan has produced some 111,000 tons of wheat since the beginning of this year, which is 16,700 tons more than in the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

An average wheat productivity is 2.91 tons per one hectare, while last year, the average productivity was 2.3 tons/ha.

Farmers in the southern Khatlon province have produced 105,000 tons of wheat since the beginning of the year, which is 29,000 tons more than in the same period of 2008.

Districts subordinate to the center (RRPs) have also launched the grain-harvesting campaign and they have produced 5,910 tons of wheat to this date, which is 12,000 tons fewer than in the same period of last year.

The northern Sughd province has not yet started the grain harvesting campaign.

The grains target for this year has been determined at 1 million tons of grains, with more than 700,000 tons of them being wheat, the source at a MoA said.