KULOB, July 14, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- To-date, farming units in four cotton producing districts of the Kulob (Khatlon) have received 9,964,340 somoni from branches of commercial banks and microcredit organizations operating in the area, Abdukarim Nematov, the head of the branch of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) in Kulob said.

According to him, 350 farming units have lodged cotton loan applications to local banks for a total amount of 16,741,225 somoni this year.  “Banks do not want to invest in the cotton subsector in order to avoid problems with repayment of loans,” said Nematov, “Many local cotton producing farms have not yet repaid their loans for the previous two cotton-harvesting campaigns.”

In 2008, the government gave a 27,482,288 somoni credit to Kulob cotton farmers and only 86.21 percent of that has been repaid to this day.  In 2009, the government gave a 24,074,487 somoni credit to local cotton farmers and only 68.2 percent of that has been repaid so far.