Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Nov. 7 / Trend H. Hasanov /
On Wednesday Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdimuhamedow greeted the country's cotton growers when implementing treaty obligations and congratulated them on the successful completion of the harvest.
The country has produced and harvested about 1,110,000 tons of high quality cotton this year.
"The government created favourable conditions for labour productivity and the well-being of Turkmen farmers, where efficient work is being implemented to reform and accelerate the development of agriculture and improve soil fertility," the president said.
At present, extensive work is being conducted in Turkmenistan on the modernisation of the agriculture industry which will allow it to meet the challenges on increasing crop yields by improving the structure and enhance soil fertility.
In this regard, the government is implementing targeted programmes providing farmers with mineral fertilisers, construction of new reservoirs and installation of irrigation and drainage systems as well as land reclamation. Modern agricultural harvesters are also being purchased.
Payment to cotton producers is being conducted through branches of the state commercial Daykhanbank.
Some 36 ginning factories and 159 procurement centres were involved in this year's harvest which started in late August..
Around 1.1million tons of cotton was collected last year. The country traditionally exports raw materials to China, Russia, Great Britain, South Korea, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Singapore, Ukraine and the Baltics.
Cotton production (cotton, lint and uluk) is sold through the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of the country.
The textile industry in the country is developing on the basis of an increase in the domestic processing of planted raw cotton.