Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Tajikistan

Citrus crops are economically profitable!

Cultivating citrus crops in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region is economically profitable – one hectare of Meyer lemon plantings, for example, brings an average profit of 315,392 somoni (over 65.5 thousand US dollars).

In Tajikistan, the main base of citrus growing is the Vakhsh Valley (Kurgan-Tube), including Shaartuz, Kabodiyon districts, Nurek, Vose, Dangara districts, and in the north of the country – B. Gafurov and Kanibadam districts.

Currently, the area of limonaria in Tajikistan, according to statistical data, is 358 hectares, of which: in the Sughd region – 43 hectares, Khatlon region – 271 hectares, DRS – 43 hectares and GBAO – 1 hectare.

The remoteness of the territory of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region from the main centers of citrus growing prevents the supply of citrus fruits to the population, while their cultivation in the Darvaz subtropical zone, along with livestock and potato growing, can become an important branch of agriculture and contribute to the solution of the food program at altitudes of 1150-1400 m above sea level.

For production tests, the following are recommended: lemon varieties “Meyer” and “Panderose”; grapefruit – “Anniversary”; orange – “Sukhumi best” and “Gamlin”; tangerine – “Clementine”, “Kovano-Vase-11”; pompelmousse –  “Shaddock pear-shaped”, “Natsu-Mikan”.

Based on the results of many years of research work, more than 15 varieties and hybrids are recommended for production; a unique collection of citrus crops has also been created in the mountainous conditions of Darvaza, including more than 80 varieties and hybrids, which are an important reserve gene pool.

The research was carried out in the Rogak stronghold of the Pamir Biological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan, where, since 1975, seedlings, introduced varieties and hybrids of citrus crops were imported from the CIS countries – Anaseuli, Yalta, Sochi, Gulripsha, Tashkent, as well as from the Vakhsh zonal station of Tajikistan.

Capital costs for the construction of above-ground lemonariums in the Darvaz zone pay off in less than 3 years.

“The economic efficiency of growing citrus crops, calculated on the basis of planned and actual costs for the production of one centner of products, shows the high profitability of this branch of agriculture in the conditions of the Darvaz subtropical zone of GBAO,” says Doctor of Agricultural Sciences Makhramov Amirsho.

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