DUSHANBE, March 31,  -- Tajik farmers have planted cotton on 20,545 hectares of lands since March 24, when the cotton-sowing campaign was launched in the Khatlon province, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). 

The source at a MoA said that Khatlon farmers planted cotton on 19,934 hectares since the beginning of the cotton-sowing campaign, which is 8 percent of a total area to be sown with cotton this year.  This year, the republic plans to plant cotton on 253,752 hectares of lands.

The Khatlon province, which is the main cotton producer in the country, will have planted cotton on 160,000 hectares this year.

Districts subordinate to the center have also launched the cotton-sowing campaign and the Sughd province is expected to start the cotton-sowing campaign within the next few days.