Turkmen farmers collect 971,492 tons of cotton

31 Oct '13

2 min read

The cotton picking process has begun in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan which involves more than 9,000 units of various agricultural machineries, and as of now, Turkmen cotton growers have collected around 971,492 tons of raw cotton, accounting for nearly 92.52 percent of the total area harvested for cotton, reports the State News Agency of Turkmenistan.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, as per the contractual obligations, cotton growers in the Balkan region have already surpassed their mark for cotton harvest for the 2013 harvest period and have collected more than 50,000 tons of cotton. Farmers in the Mary province of the country have collected near 303,172 tons of raw cotton. Cotton farmers from Akhal and Lebap provinces have also begun collecting and picking cotton.

The farmers are provided with all kind of assistance for efficiently carrying out the process of cotton picking, and nearly 159 cotton procurement centers and 36 ginning factories are receiving cotton continuously from the farmers.

Cotton harvest was launched in the Central Asian country in late August and farmers had undertaken to harvest at least 1.5 million tons of cotton. The harvest campaign was initiated mainly in the Akhal, Mary, Lebap and Balkan provinces of the country.

The cotton harvest campaign is a part of the ‘Program of development of agricultural industry of Turkmenistan for the years 2012-2016.’

Cotton is the main cash crop of Turkmen agriculture and one of the main exports of the country, second only to energy resources.

Last year, the Turkmen cotton growers fulfilled their contractual obligations and produced about 1.1 million tons of raw cotton.

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