The damage caused to Tajikistan's agriculture by heavy rains and mudflows exceeds 10 million U.S. dollars, the head of the Agricultural Ministry's press service, Narzullo Dadabayev, told a news conference on Wednesday.
"These estimates are not final. The damage may be much higher after the governmental commission sums up the results of its work," he said, Itar-Tass reported.
Last week's heavy rains hit Tajikistan's cotton fields hard. Almost 5,500 hectares or 4 percent of the planted areas were washed away. Hundreds of hectares were partially destroyed.
Agricultural experts say framers can re-sow the fields until June 1.
"Of course, this will affect the yielding capacity, but it is better to have less than nothing," Dadabayev said.
Cotton along with aluminium remains the main source of foreign currency in the country. Lower prices for cotton amid the global economic crisis forced the government to correct the cotton policy, but cotton still remains the major export item in the agricultural sector.
This spring over 200,000 hectares were sowed with cotton as against 240,000 hectares in 2008.
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