DUSHANBE, October 8, Asia-Plus  - Tajik cotton farmers have reached 58 percent of the national cotton target, having yielded some 320,000 tons of raw cotton by October 8, Asia-Plus has learned at the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection (MoAEP).

We will recall that the national target for 2007 has been determined at 550,000 somonis.

The source at a MoAEP said that an average daily rate of cotton-harvesting campaign in the country is 0.9 percent of the target or some 5,000 tons.   

The southern Khatlon province has pledged to produce 330,500 tons of raw cotton this year.  They have gathered some 198,000 tons of cotton by October 8, which is 59.8 percent of the target.

Districts subordinate to the center (RRPs) have yielded 28,000 tons of raw cotton, which is nearly 58 percent of the target.  Their target is 48,200 tons of cotton. 

Cotton growers of the northern Sughd province have yielded more than 93,000 tons of cotton by October 8, which comprises more than 54 percent of its target determined at 171,300 tons of cotton.