Sindh falls short by 30 percent in cotton sowing

KARACHI: Due to acute water shortage, Sindh falls short of completing the cotton sowing target by at least 30 percent of its land, experts and growers told The News on Wednesday.

Mehmood Nawaz Shah, secretary general, Sindh Abad Board, said this was the first time in the recent history of Pakistan where several people have not been able to sow cotton seeds.

“According to our information, cotton has been sown on 70 percent area only, 30 percent remains out,” he said. “In some areas it has achieved 80-90 percent of target while in some areas it has miserably failed to achieve any percentage.”

Shah said that April remained the ideal month for sowing, but sowing was not completed till the mid of June. The district to finish last was Larkana, where generally the process is completed by May 15, but the crop has not been sown there too because of acute water shortage.

“Canal water has started arriving now, but it is of no use, as sowing at this time will not work,” he said, and added that the people would be preparing for the next crop within few months.

Stakeholders fear that the crop this year would not give enough yield as there were chances of damage due to heat waves.

According to sources in the Sindh agriculture department, cotton seeds were sown only on 48 percent of land or 0.296 million hectares, against target of 0.62 million hectares’ by June 1, 2018. This is 36.6 percent lower compared to last year’s sowing on 0.467 million hectares.

Karachi Cotton Brokers Association Chairman Naseem Usman said it would be difficult for the country to achieve production target of 14.3 million bales. “Though it is difficult to predict at this time, private sector is expecting no more than 12.5 million bales.”

However, he said, prices were likely to remain stable in the world, as demand has surpassed production. Besides, tariff trade war between the US and China would keep the prices moving upwards. “China is buying 0.5 million bales from India, going away from the US market,” Usman added.

Sowing was mostly affected in lower Sindh, whereas in upper Sindh, some growers were able to complete sowing as they drew groundwater from tube-wells for the purpose.

He said arrival of canal water would not have any positive impact over the crop. “Canal water has started arriving. Even if crop gets water now, damage is already done,” the cotton association chairman said.

Sowing will not take place any more as the crop has started arriving in the market. Nearly 5,000 bales have arrived in the market from the new crop at a rate of Rs7,900-Rs8,000/maund.