Tajikistan expands cotton fields

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

As many as 187,500 hectares of land will be allocated in Tajikistan for the cultivation of cotton this year, which is 13,500 more than last year, according to forecasts.

By the beginning of April, cotton has been planted on over 42,300 hectares of land, which is 22.6 percent of the land allocated for this technical culture in Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Avesta reported.

Specialists of the industry noted that the decision to increase cotton crops was made by the government of the country in connection with the growth of market needs. Thus, cotton fields will be expanded at the expense of grain and fodder crop areas.

Earlier, cotton cultivation areas and, correspondingly, cotton production were decreasing in the country.

In 2012, 418,000 tons of cotton was harvested, while the harvest was 393,000 tons in 2013, 372,000 tons in 2014, 335,000 tons in 2015, and 270,000 tons the last year. A consistent decrease in cotton cultivation fields caused the decline as 200,000 hectares were allotted for cotton in 2012, with only 160,000 hectares allotted in 2016.

In 2017, Tajik farmers managed to meet the Agriculture Ministry's forecast for the first time over the past several years. Thus in 2017, 380,000 of cotton was harvested in Tajikistan, 5.2 percent more than in 2016.

Until the middle of the 2000s, cotton was considered one of the two main export goods of Tajikistan (along with aluminum). In the 1980s, about 800,000 tons of cotton was harvested annually in Soviet Tajikistan.

At the same time, most of the cotton fiber produced in the country is exported as raw materials. The processing of these products within the country is insignificant.