Shavkat Mirziyoyev: We are consistently solving all problems in agriculture

At the meeting, held on March 23 under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, issue of qualitative campaign for cotton sowing was considered.

It was noted that this year it is planned to sow cotton on more than 1 million 71 thousand hectares of fields, which is less to 135 thousand than in 2017, and 184 thousand – in 2016. Optimization of low-yield cotton fields will allow to grow export-oriented vegetable and melons, ensure stable saturation of the domestic market, deliveries to processing enterprises and for export.

3432 soil preparation and cotton sowing units were organized for carrying out the sowing campaign in a short time, ensuring healthy shoots. In the current year, a relatively low level of precipitation is observed, therefore, cotton seeds need to be germinated on a natural soil moisture. Due to this, 1 billion cubic meters of water can be saved.

In this respect, optimal conditions for cotton sowing have been developed in Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya regions. However, by the present time cotton have been sown on 8 thousand hectares, or 11% of fields in Surkhandarya, 5 thousand hectares, or 3.5%, in Kashkadarya. The daily rate of sowing is about 1 percent. And this despite the well-known fact that the delay in sowing campaign in these regions will lead to the fact that the period of accumulation of cotton crop coincides with the hottest season of the year and most of the crop may disappear due to dry winds or pests.

The most important thing is that we are consistently solving all problems in agriculture and set an average price for one ton of cotton in the amount of 3 million 250 thousand sums. Now there is no reason to refer to the pretext repeated year after year: “There is not enough money for cotton planting, there is no fuel”. Allocated funds will be enough for all measures, said the Head of the state.

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