“We all realize that this wonderful success is a result of the self-sacrificing labor of our farmers, specialists and machine operators, of all rural workers, who contributed to this,” the President’s message reads.

“Agriculture does not know a year that would not require enormous efforts from the people, who have linked their lives with farming. This year’s season was also very difficult for us. The spring was very rainy, and nature has caused a lot of problems in the form of frequent mudflows and hails. Because of lack of heat of the sun, the process of preparation of the fields to sowing and the growth of cotton was delayed by almost a month.

“Moreover, because of the increased humidity various plant diseases spread, and the amount of agricultural vermin increased, which became another serious challenge for the farmers.

“This required the farmers to take a particularly accurate care of each plant of cotton, provide additional treatment of plants, in short, it required a tireless, self-sacrificing labor,” the head of the state said.

Islam Karimov said the best results were achieved in Andijan, Surkhandarya, Tashkent, Namangan and Ferghana regions, as well as in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, where the plan was implemented in 25-30 days.

This year’s results are different from those of the previous years with high crop yield and the fiber quality. Some districts have managed to harvest 45-50 centners of cotton from each hectare of land, he said.

“Today, Uzbek cotton is enjoying the increasing demand on the international arena, where our country is becoming one of the centers of the world cotton market. This was proved by the fifth international cotton fair held in Tashkent recently, where famous foreign trade companies participated and numerous large contracts were signed,” Islam Karimov underlined.