KULOB, June 23, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- 1,813 hectares of abandoned lands, with more than 200 hectares of them being irrigated lands, have been registered in Khatlon’s Kulob region.

The Kulob land management department head Tohir Saidov says the abandoned lands have been registered in all ten districts of the region.

“1,337 hectares of abandoned lands, with 105 hectares of them being irrigated lands, have been revealed in Farkhor district alone,” said Saidov.  “Local farmers justify the non-use of those 105 hectares of irrigated lands by lack of hydrotechnical canals and swamping of those lands, while dry-farming lands are just abandoned.”

According to him, local farms do not use 1,110 hectares of lands, while they have to pay high taxes for them.  “According to last year’s tariff rates, the single tax on land for Farkhor district is set at 87.00 somoni per one hectare,” the land management department head said, noting that they are currently preparing a decision on imposing fines on a number of farming units in Farkhor for violation of land code.

401 instances of violation of the land code have been registered in the region since the beginning of the year and 327 violators have been fined a total of 98,297 somoni, Saidov added.