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DUSHANBE, Dec 26 (Reuters): Tajikistan has harvested 447,408 tonnes of raw cotton in 2005, one fifth down from last year's 558,313 tonnes and well below a planned 610,000 tonnes, a senior agriculture ministry official said today.
Saidmurod Badriddinov, a department head at the ministry, told Reuters there were several reasons for falling short of the target -- from a shortage of farm machinery, fuel and mineral fertilisers to late, and sometimes non-payment of cotton growers.
He said the crop of most-valued, high quality, fine-fibre cotton dropped to 27,837 tonnes from 48,477 tonnes last year.
Keen to boost export earnings, the government has ordered an increase in raw cotton output to 830,000 tonnes by 2015. During the Soviet era, Tajikistan harvested up to 1 million tonnes of raw cotton a year.
The mountainous Central Asian state that borders Afghanistan and China has failed to reach planned cotton output targets despite an increase in the sown area.
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