Minister urges stakeholders to collaborate for achieving 6m cotton bales’ target

LAHORE:Provincial Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Sayed Ashaq Hussain Karmani has called on cotton sector stakeholders to work collaboratively to achieve the target of 06 million bales.

While underlining the need to enhance cotton production In a meeting with representatives of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association here at Agriculture House, Minister discussed the Cotton Campaign 2025–26, early sowing and early operation of ginning factories, local cotton taxation, the Cotton Control Act, and cotton pricing issues.

The Cotton Ginners Association informed the Minister about the challenges and problems being faced by the industry.On this occasion, MPA Rana Saleem and Secretary Agriculture Punjab, Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, were also present.

Ashaq Hussain Karmani, stated that cotton is our cash crop. According to the vision of CM Punjab, the Agriculture Department has taken several effective measures over the past year and a quarter not only in South Punjab but throughout the province for the revival and stabilisation of cotton. As a result, the cotton cultivation situation has significantly improved, and the cultivated area has increased. He endorsed that this year is being regarded as the year of cotton revival.

To encourage farmers towards cotton cultivation, the Agriculture Department launched a strong awareness campaign. From February 15 to March 31, a challenging target of early sowing on 1 million acres was set and successfully achieved. Such a target had not been met in the past 10 years. So far, cotton has been cultivated on 3.3 million out of 3.5 million acres, and efforts are being made to reach 4 million acres. It is the Department’s practice to conduct third-party verification of achieved targets.

This year, one million acres of rice area has been shifted to cotton. Under the supervision of the Chief Minister, the Punjab Government has developed a strategy to eliminate income and sales tax on the cotton industry, and negotiations are ongoing with the Federal Govt and the Prime Minister. It is highly expected that these taxes will be abolished in the 2025–26 budget. The core purpose of all these reforms is to make cotton a profitable crop for farmers. The minister urged the Ginners Association to adopt new and improved technologies for ginning, highlighting that most factory owners are using traditional methods which result in reduced demand for our cotton in the international market. He emphasised the need to modernize ginning processes, assuring that the government will provide all possible support to introduce new technologies in this sector. The government is ensuring the availability of high-quality and approved cotton seed varieties. Karmani emphasised that enforcement of the Cotton Control Act is the need of time. The revival of cotton is vital for economic stability, and all stakeholders must work together for this cause. The current government is making every effort to ensure the prosperity of farmers and to increase agricultural productivity. Secretary Agriculture Punjab, Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, stated that this year, several demonstration plots were set up in South Punjab where Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices were fully implemented.