DUSHANBE, September 23, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Specialists expect Tajik cotton growers to produce more than 300,000 tons of raw cotton this year.

Dr. Saidjalol Saidov, the director of the research institute, Ziroatkor (Crop Farming), within the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Tajikistan, says this year’s average cotton yields are expected to stand at not less than 20 hectares per one hectare.

“However, Qubodiyon, Panj and some other districts in Khatlon province, which is the main cotton producer in Tajikistan, are experiencing difficulties due to locust infestations that affected farming units, which were not provided with pesticides, last spring,” the expert said.

He stressed that taking into account that international cotton prices have shown upward tendency and are expected to show upward tendency till mid-2011, one may safely expect the country’s cotton sub-sector to earn good money in 2011.

Cotton makes an important contribution to both Tajikistan’s agrarian sector and the national economy, supporting some 75 percent of the rural population.  At the national level, it is an important source of both export earnings and tax revenue.

This year, Tajik cotton farmer have planted cotton on more than 164,000 hectares.