QURGHON TEPPA, July 13, 2009, - 100 hectares of farmland in Khatlon’s Vakhsh district have remained uncultivated this year due to severe water shortages, chairman of the Vakhsh district Shodi Mousoyev said.

According to him, 35 instances of violation of the land tenure legislation have been recorded in the district over the first six months of this year and violators have been fined a total of 13,000 somoni.

Mousoyev also noted that the Dusti Farm that had more than 600 hectares of farmland would be divided into several dehqon (peasant) farms.  “According to our estimates, small farming units yield better results than the large or collective ones,” the Vakhsh chairman said.