AGRICULTURE OF TAJIKISTAN DAMAGED BY HEAVY RAINS AND MUDFLOWS

               Dushanbe, May 15. (NIAT "Khovar, Natalya Mikhaylova). — According to preliminary data, the cost of damage caused to agriculture of Tajikistan by heavy rains and mudflows that have occurred through March, April and May exceeds the amount of 43m somonis (ca US $10m). More definite figures will be known after a special governmental commission which is now surveying affected regions with the participation of experts from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences sums up the results of the work.                Farmer households have suffered the most losses. The heavy downpours in April have seriously damaged fruit-trees that had just started to blossom, while recent hails have shaken down early fruits. Because of such excessive precipitations the yield of fruit-trees may decrease by 30 percent this year.                Seedlings of cotton have been swept away from the area of 5.5 thousand hectares which makes 4 percent of the whole planting area. Due to heavy rains, the sowing campaign is lagging behind the schedule, while in some districts it may be even disrupted.                 Weather-forecasters say that the quality of this spring's precipitations has been one-and-a-half times as big as usual monthly rate. The probability of further rain falling remains, because of the presence of moist Atlantic air masses over the territory of Tajikistan.