RECORDER REPORT

MULTAN: Cotton Commissioner and Vice President of PCCC Dr Khalid Abdullah has said the new varieties of BT cotton would be evolved for next season to boost up the cotton production and achieve the target in the country.

The 16 varieties would be despatched to National Coordinator varietals trial and a committee of the experts and agricultural scientists would submit the final report about the germination and resistance of these varieties.

Exchanging views after holding a meeting of PCCC with Khawaja Muhammad Usman President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI), Dr Khalid Abdullah said more than 0.5 million farmers would be trained through TEVTA in the country and monthly scholarship would also be paid to them by the government.

He said the for the next season (2014-15), the government has fixed cotton production target of 15.10 million bales from an area of 3.128 million hectare against the revised cotton production estimate of 12.33 million bales for the same period of the outgoing season. Punjab will produce 10.5 million cotton bales from 2.428 million hectare, Sindh will cover 0.650 million hectare land and would produce 4.200 million cotton bales, Balochistan will grow cotton on 0.050 million hectares and will produce 0.400 million cotton bales, KP will cover 0.00035 million hectares land and would produce 0.0015 million cotton bales.

Khalid Abdullah said that a target of 14.1 million bales was set for the year 2013-14 and the cotton crop size for the season had been assessed at 12.32 million bales of 170 kgs.

The representative from Meteorological Department stated that lesser rainfall is anticipated in the cotton belt than the normal level from March to June which will result in increase maximum temperature to around 1 to 2 degree. Farmers can plan cotton sowing according to availability of irrigation water and anticipated rainfall and temperature.

Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) has disbursed Rs14 billion (26 percent of total agriculture loan disburse) for cotton growers, which is highest among the crops. During 2014-15 cotton crop season, ZTBL intends to grant loans of Rs15 billion for cotton growers.

He further stated that around 91 percent of ZTBL loan was disbursed to small farmers during 2013-14. Province-wise break-up of loan disbursement/consumption for cotton farmers during 2013-14 includes Punjab Rs 12.2 billion, Sindh Rs 1.8 billion, KP Rs 106 million, Balochistan Rs 13 million.

He said that 12 percent interest rate is being charged at the moment, stating that availability of urea and DAP fertilizers is satisfactory and the government also intends to import 125,000 tons of urea for the coming Kharif season in order to avoid shortage.

Moreover, the ECC has also fixed urea price of Rs 1,786 per bag for both local and imported urea, which is still not being implemented by the fertilizer industry.

Secretary MinTex directed to go back again to the ECC to direct the fertilizer industry to provide urea bag at Rs 1,786 per bag to the farmers. She further stated that there should be transparency in the mechanism of determining prices. Khalid Abdullah said the government is planning to procure up to one million bales of cotton in the coming season to stabilise the market.

He further said the government would directly purchase seed cotton (phutti) instead of lint cotton from farmers instead of ginners to give maximum benefit to farmers. He said the ministry is finalising a plan in this regard and would apprise the government soon. Cotton is the cornerstone of the textile sector, which contributes 55 percent to Pakistan’s exports. However, during last 10 years, cotton production has remained stagnant at around 12 or 13 million bales per annum.

The Federal Committee on Cotton agreed to set the target of 15.1 million bales for 2014-15 in view of revitalisation of the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, a massive training programme for cotton growers in modern production technologies, and better crop extension services committed by provinces.