MULTAN City News

Govt asked to fix Rs 3,200/40kg

support price of seed cotton

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: Former National Assembly speaker Syed Fakhar Imam has asked the government to fix minimum support price of seed cotton (Phutti) at Rs 3,200/40kg to boost cotton sowing.

Talking to The News on Saturday, Syed Fakhar Imam said that cotton production declined to 45pc last year in unprecedented way. Climate change, high input cost and low cotton prices received by growers were the main reasons of decline in cotton production, he added. The decline approximately cost loss to Rs 200 billion to the economy, he lamented. The cotton growers suffered huge financial losses last year, he informed. Majority of the growers were now reluctant to cultivate cotton in the coming season due to last year’s huge financial losses, he claimed. Fakhar Imam said that cotton production in the last few years had become very difficult because of acute pest problem, unusual weather conditions, high input cost and negative return to growers. He said that cotton and its byproducts had contributed upto 65pc of total exports of Pakistan. As many as 480 textile mills, 1,300 ginning factories and hundreds of value added units rely on cotton as the main raw material, he informed. More than 200 expeller units crush cottonseed to extract cottonseed oil, which contributes 60pc of all edible oil produced in Pakistan, he maintained. The byproduct of cotton cake makes a large contribution to cattle feed, he said. At least 40pc of all industrial labour was employed in the cotton sector, he continued. Fakhar Imam said that the government should take immediate measures to promote and encourage the cotton growers to meet the targets of cotton acreage of Pakistan. He underlined the need for reviewing cotton production as this would affect on the total economy.

NINE SUSPECTS HELD: The police and other law enforcement agencies on Saturday arrested nine suspects during a house-to-house search operation conducted in Basti Malok area.

Multan City Police spokesman Faizan Ali Raza told The News that CPO Azhar Akram commanded the whole operation while police, Joint Task Team, Counter-Terrorism Department and intelligence agencies jointly conducted the operation. The raiding teams also recovered 40 tractors, including 18 tempered, and illegal weapons during the search operation, he added. The spokesperson said that the search operation continued for seven hours and the entire exit and entry points were sealed. Total 350 houses were scanned with biometric machines, he informed.