DUSHANBE, July 20, 2016, Asia-Plus -- Russian companies that have concluded agreements with Tajik agrarians on purchasing potatoes and onions have failed to fulfill their obligations on those agreements, Tajik Minister of Agriculture, Sattor Izatullo, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 20. 

According to him, Russian companies concluded agreements with Tajik onion and potato producers at the beginning of the year but later they changed their mind.

“I do not know what the reason was – maybe they did not like the quality of products offered by Tajik agrarians or anything else, but they refused to purchase the whole product,” the minister said.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Ms. Jamila Saidova, for her part, gave an example of Magnit Food Stores Network.

“This company was going to purchase agricultural goods from Tajik farmers at large volumes, but there are few agricultural goods in Tajikistan that would suit them by quality,” Ms. Saidova said.

“They have their own requirements for quality of fruits and vegetables and our farming units cannot meet these requirements,” the deputy minister added.

Over the first six months of this year, Tajikistan has reportedly exported 700,000 tons of agricultural goods.