An important agricultural campaign - cotton sowing - has begun in the country. In accordance with the schedule announced by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers held on March 17, , cotton growers in the Akhal, Balkan, Lebap and Mary velayats began sowing on March 24. A little later, on March 29, farmers of the Dashoguz velayat will join them.

According to a good tradition, the beginning of the sowing was blessed by the venerable elders. Having raised a prayer to the Almighty for the well-being and prosperity of the Motherland, the Turkmen people, the head of state, they threw the first cotton seeds into the ground, and then gave way to machine operators.

This year, 580,000 hectares of sown areas have been allocated for cotton. Private agricultural producers also participate in the cultivation of this crop, the role of which in building up the potential of the agro-industrial complex of our country is growing year by year.

By the beginning of sowing, selected cotton seeds were harvested, medium fiber varieties of which are traditionally cultivated in all regions of the Fatherland. Among them, preference is given to such varieties as "Ýolöten-7", "Ýolöten-39", "Jeýhun", "S-2606", "Daşoguz-120", "Daşoguz-114", "Gubadag-3", "149-F", characterized by precocity and increased productivity. Based on the soil and climatic conditions, the sowing of fine-staple cotton varieties, in particular, "Ýolöten-14", is carried out in Akhal and Mary velayats.

About 1,800 seeders and tractors will be involved in the country in order to carry out this campaign qualitatively. Brigades consisting of mechanics-repairers and adjusters have been created in the etraps, which are provided with mobile workshops and vehicles for transporting fuel.

New equipment received by Turkmenistan, in particular, seeders and tractors equipped with a telematic digital electronic system, purchased from world leaders in agricultural engineering, will be brought to the fields.

At the same time, biological laboratories are being prepared for the new agricultural season, operating on the territory of etraps and daikhan associations, which will provide farmers with environmentally friendly and cost-effective bio-products used against cotton pests.

On the eve of the sowing season, seminars were held in the velayats dedicated to the urgent tasks of further modernization of the village, designed to ensure the dynamic development and high profitability of the agro-industrial complex, a stable growth in agricultural production.

Among their participants were the heads and representatives of the velayat and etrap khyakimliks, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, the Main State Service "Turkmenstandartlary", the State Commercial Bank "Daýhanbank", public organizations, elders, agronomists, machine operators, cotton growers.

Among the issues discussed at the seminars are the organized and timely sowing of cotton, careful observance of the norms of agricultural technology at all stages of its cultivation, increasing crop yields, improving the reclamation state of agricultural lands, rational use of land and water resources, as well as protecting plants from insect pests and weeds.

In their speeches, the participants expressed their deep gratitude to President Serdar Berdimuhamedov for the great attention to the comprehensive development of the Turkmen village, active concern for improving the working and living conditions of the country's farmers, assuring that they would make every effort, knowledge and experience for the successful implementation of the reforms carried out by the head of state in the agro-industrial complex.

As part of the celebrations on the occasion of the start of the sowing campaign, exhibitions of agricultural machinery and products of processing enterprises of the agro-industrial complex of Turkmenistan were organized. Musical and folklore-choreographic groups of the velayats prepared creative gifts for cotton growers.