Uzbekistan, Tashkent, October 31 / Trend D. Azizov /
Uzbekistan gathered more than 3.4 million tons of raw cotton, the Uzbek press service said. The Uzbek President Islam Karimov sent a congratulation to the cotton growers and all workers of Uzbekistan. Congratulations were published by the Uzbek official media outlets on October 31.
In his congratulatory message, the President stressed that "this remarkable success is the result of selfless labor of experienced farmers, professionals and machine operators, all rural workers who have made a worthy contribution to this victory."
The President recalled that the current season turned out to be very difficult for cotton farmers. Spring was very rainy. The weather has caused many problems with frequent mudflows and hail. Preparation of fields for planting, sowing and getting grafts was postponed for a month due to lack of solar heat.
The President said that farmers looked after each bush of cotton more carefully, conducted additional processing and agrarian measures.
Significant results, achieved in cotton-growing in 2009, differ with high productivity and fiber quality compared to previous years, the president said.
Improvement of soil fertility and effectiveness of lands in agriculture, introduction of best practices and modern technologies in difficult field of cotton, further stimulation of farmers' labor, increasing the level and quality of life for all the villagers will continue to be priorities for the Uzbek leadership, the message says.
Uzbekistan takes the sixth place on production in the world and the second one - on export of cotton fiber. About 3,5 million tons of raw cotton and 1-1,2 million tons of cotton fiber are produced in Uzbekistan every year. Over 95 percent falls on middle-fibrous kinds with length of 32-33 mm, the rest - long-fibrous ones (36-39 mm). Over 75 percent of cotton is shipped for export.
The main countries - consumers of Uzbek cotton are Iran, Russia, Bangladesh, South Korea, Vietnam. Export of cotton from Uzbekistan to China increases within the last years.
The contracts for cotton crop in 2009 amounting to 600,000 tons, as well as the general agreement for supply of cotton crop in 2010 to the amount of 400,000 tons have been signed at the International Uzbek Cotton Fair held in Tashkent in mid-October.