BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 6
By Amina Nazarli - Trend:
The land area initially prepared for growing potatoes in Turkmenistan’s Mary region will be expanded to 13,000 hectares this year, Trend reported citing the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper.
The amount of land allocated for potato growing has already significantly increased since last year, when only 3,000 hectares was allocated for the Akhal and Mary regions combined.
Moreover, Turkmenkala district intends to double potato output to 2,300 hectares in 2022. This will allow for the harvesting at least 32,200 tons of potatoes over the course of two seasons.
Earlier it was reported that Turkmenistan intends to increase land for sowing potatoes, vegetables and melons. For this, it is planned to reduce the area under cotton by 40,000 hectares.
Turkmenistan's cotton sown area is 620,000 hectares per year. The new proposal aims to reduce this area to 580,000 hectares.
Cotton farming is a key component of Turkmenistan's agro-industrial sector. The country's natural conditions favor the cultivation of medium and fine staple cotton varieties. The country is investing millions of dollars in the sector to expand the cotton industry and build textile factories. Turkmenistan harvested 1.25 million tons of cotton in 2021.