Modern machinery and Chinese seeds transform cotton farming in Tajikistan

Farmers in the Asht district of Tajikistan are replacing manual cotton picking with mechanized harvesting and advanced agricultural techniques.

The Rahshona farm has adopted modern combines to streamline the harvest, moving away from a system that previously required hundreds of manual laborers. The farm director, Davron Okhundjonov, says that hand-picking cotton from ten hectares costs approximately 20,000 somoni, while mechanized harvesting costs about 8,000 somoni.

A single combine can cover 10 to 15 hectares in a day, a workload that would normally require about 200 people to complete by hand. The farm purchased two used Chinese-made combines based on the American John Deere model for $65,000 each to achieve these efficiencies. The transition involves more than just harvesting. The farm uses new Chinese seeders to plant cotton in four-row configurations with 76-centimeter spacing, which allows for a higher planting density.

This method produces more than 240,000 seedlings per hectare, compared to the 90,000 to 95,000 seedlings produced under older Soviet-era technology. These new methods also eliminate the need for manual thinning, weeding, and topping, which previously incurred significant costs. Farmers also use drones to treat fields against pests like the black cutworm and utilize Chinese seeds that resist drought and soil salinity. While the technology is effective, high upfront costs for machinery remain a barrier for many.

Currently, combines only harvested about 1.7% of the cotton in the Sughd region in 2025. To address this, the Tajik government approved a state program in July 2026 to modernize cotton farming through 2030 by promoting equipment upgrades and irrigation systems.