KHUJAND, March 10, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Following rise in prices of raw cotton in the domestic market, the Khujand-based joint venture Javoni (clothing factory) plans to cultivate cotton for its needs by itself.

The enterprise director general Ibrohim Ghafourov told Asia-Plus today they have decided to lease 900 hectares of abandoned land in Bobojonghafurov district for these purposes.

“We will use the best international practice and state-of-the-art agricultural technologies,” said Ghafourov, “We will purchase three tractors in Belarus, rational irrigation system in Iran and seeds of Carmen cotton variety in Turkey.”

According to him, one of the company’s founders, Carrera Group, has decided to take this measure mainly for two reasons: 1) sharp hike in cotton fiber prices in Tajikistan – current price of one ton of cotton fiber grade 1 is now more than US$5,000; and 2) insufficient length parameters of fiber of cotton cultivated in northern Tajikistan.

The company plans to launch a cotton-sowing campaign in April, the director general added.

Established in 1992, the garment company Javoni is a joint venture in the northern Sughd province.  Javoni is the largest foreign-local textile joint venture in Tajikistan.  The joint venture is majority owned by Carrera Group, a global leader in the manufacturing and sales of casual garments.  The enterprise produces casual garments sold through Carrera into Europe.  1,200 people now work for Javoni.