Last week, the important agricultural campaign - cotton sowing, approved by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov at a Cabinet session, was launched in the country. On the instructions of the head of state Akhal, Lebap and Mary velayats’ cotton growers began sowing. Shortly thereafter, on April 3 Dashoguz velayat’s farmers will follow them. By well-established popular tradition, the honorary elders gave a start to the sowing campaign. Offering up a prayer for wellbeing and prosperity of the Homeland, the Turkmen people and President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, they had planted the first cotton seeds and, after that, gave way to machine operators. This year, 545 thousand hectares of land in Turkmenistan have been allotted for cotton. Altogether it is planned to gather 1 million 50 thousand tons of cotton, including 207 thousand tons in Akhal velayat, 230 thousand tons in Dashoguz velayat, 300 thousand tons in Lebap velayat and 313 thousand tons in Mary velayat. Over 65 thousand tons of selected cotton seeds have been prepared for the sowing campaign, the stock composed of about 15 medium- and long-staple grades. Medium-staple cotton is traditionally grown in all regions of Turkmenistan. The most preferred among them are such grades, as «149F», «133», «Yoloten-7», «Dashoguz-120», «Serdar», «S-4727», and «Yoloten-39». Such ELS grades, as «Yoloten-14», «Yoloten-32» and others will be sown in the country’s two regions (Mary and Akhal velayats). As the TDH correspondent was informed in the «Turkmenobahyzmat» State Association, about 7 thousand different models of tractors, more than 2 thousand seeding machines, nearly 5 thousand cotton cultivators and other agricultural machinery, required for uninterrupted sowing and subsequent agro-technical treatment, would be operated in the course of current campaign. On the threshold of the sowing campaign seminars were held in Daykhans’ Associations «Bugdayly» of Akhal velayat’s Ak Bugday etrap, «Vatan» of Lebap velayat’s Galkynysh etrap and «Yenish» of Mary velayat’s Mary etrap to discuss the topical issues of further modernization of the village, intended to promote the dynamic development, high profitability of the agro-industrial complex and the stable expansion of agricultural production.