Cotton sowing in Punjab up 18pc for FY18

ISLAMABAD: Cotton crop cultivation witnessed around 18 percent increase in Punjab during the current sowing season of 2017-18 over the same period a year earlier, an industry official said.

It, however, decreased six percent in Sindh, said an official in the ministry of textile industry. During the current sowing season, cotton crop has been cultivated over 2.743 million hectares in Punjab, 18 percent higher as compared to the same period last year.

Cotton sowing in Sindh fell six percent to 0.598 million hectares of land, he added. Meanwhile, the official said final figures of the cotton cultivation across the crop growing areas in the country would be compiled by the end of the current month, which would depict the overall production in the country.

He further said over all cotton crop-sowing witnessed 12 percent increase during the current sowing season over the last year. The official said crop cultivation has been completed more than 88.2 percent area against the target set for 2017/18. Government set a target to produce 14.4 million cotton bales by cultivating crop over an area of 3.11 million hectares.

The Punjab was tasked to cultivate the crop over an area of 2.4 million hectares, whereas Sindh cultivation target was fixed at 0.65 million hectares, he added. The increasing trend in cotton cultivation was the result of a series of steps taken by the federal and provincial governments, including provision of subsidies on fertilisers, pesticides and electricity.

In order to enhance the crop cultivation and enhancing productivity, textile ministry, in collaboration with other stakeholders, organized a series of training programmes for farmers and held field seminars for creating awareness among the farmers, said the official.