DUSHANBE, December 2, 2014, Asia-Plus – According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the country’s cotton growing districts have yielded 385,597 tons of raw cotton this year, which is nearly 95 percent of the preliminary forecast.

An official source at a MoA says that under the preliminary cotton crop forecast Tajik cotton growing districts were expected to yield 408,000 tons of raw cotton this year.

Meanwhile, the real volume of this year’s cotton crop has been projected at 366,000 tons, which is 30,000 tons fewer than last year, the source noted.

This year, Tajik farmers have planted cotton on 178,000 hectares and the cotton-harvesting campaign began this year after August 20.

Last year, Tajik cotton growers produced 395,000 tons of raw cotton from 192,000 hectares.