DUSHANBE, February 28, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Preparations for the spring sowing campaign are progressing in Tajikistan.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Tajik farmers have turned up 449,781 hectares of farmland by February 27, which is 64.4 percent of the target.  This year, agricultural crops are expected to be planted on 657,500 hectares.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the head of the MoA crop sector department Saidmurod Bahriddinov said that good results had been yielded due modern agricultural machines provided to farming units by the state unitary enterprise, Tojikagroleasing.  According to him, farmers have turned up some 80 percent (189,215 hectares) of cotton fields to this date.