DUSHANBE, September 30, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik farmers are taking real measures to gather cotton on time and fulfill the national target, which has been determined at 350,000 tons of cotton this year.

According to the crop sector directorate within the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Tajik farmers yielded some 6,000 tons of raw cotton on September 29 alone.

Cotton growers in the southern Khatlon have yielded 62,000 tons of raw cotton by September 30, cotton-growing farms in the Sughd province have produced 10,400 tons of cotton to this date, and cotton growers of central Tajikistan (districts subordinate to the center) have yielded only 139 tons of cotton so far.

The country has yielded 72,600 tons of cotton by September 30, which comprises only 18.5 per cent of this year''s target.