DUSHANBE , March 13, Asia-Plus - Preparations for the cotton sowing campaign set for March 20 are ongoing in Tajikistan .  

According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture, 229,802 hectares of lands (89.4 percent) under cotton have to date been ploughed.  In Sughd province, farmers have ploughed 71,169 hectares (94.6 percent), in Khatlon – 136,276 hectares (85.2 percent), and in the districts subordinate to the center – 22,357 hectares (102.1 percent).  

In the meantime, experts from the Agriculture Ministry say cold weather that hit Tajikistan today and which last, according to meteorologists, in the country till the end of this week, may affect the ploughing works.    

We will recall that areas under cotton have reduced this year by 38,000 hectares and the national cotton target for this year has been determined at 550,000 tons.