Stakeholders ask govt to launch cotton emergency programme

MULTAN: Cotton stakeholders have urged the government to launch cotton emergency programme to protect growers as well as cash crop in the country.

It was said by Multan Dry Port Trust chairman and ex-president of Dera Ghazi Khan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday. He said that the cotton sector was facing a critical situation, which needs urgent measures as the seed corporation had become dormant and continuously failing to address the growing demands of growers to get high yielding seeds.

He told that there was massive decline in white gold crop as Pakistan was standing at second number in the world by producing cotton in 1992. Now the country had lost ranking to fifth number instead of growing in cotton production, he lamented.

He urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to reduce the prices of agriculture pesticides and fertilisers, including urea and DAP, and direct subsidy schemes for growers. He demanded immediate announcement of cotton support price and effective research should be conducted against cotton virus and urgent measures must be taken against locust attack.

The government should devise a strategy to achieve more than 15 million bales and growers should take measures to reduce input cost, he added. The government should ensure availability of inputs to growers at control rates and provincial governments should take notices into the situation under the Cotton Control Act to ensure measures for per acre increase, he continued.

Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi said that the ministry should devise a strategy on pesticide residues. He underlined the need for upgrading seed and fertiliser technologies. The government should take cotton stakeholders, including textile sector and ginners, into confidence over designing cotton support policy, he suggested.

The agriculture scientists should be equipped and facilitated to research on new cotton seed d varieties, he maintained. The Ministry of Food and Security should personally monitor the cotton crop and it should be included in the Prime Minister's Agriculture Emergency Programme, he demanded.

The Ministry of Food and National Security has remained aloof in taking productive measures in the last two years and the ministry should be activated for the betterment of the crop, he added. He said that the government should announce a package for setting up the garment industry and a special incentive to promote the industry. The garment industry should be included in SMEs with exclusive incentives, he demanded.

The government should announce a loan scheme for garment industry minimum for 12 years with minimum mark up rate, he suggested. The government should announce special incentives in those areas where the cotton is vanished to promote its cultivation, he elaborated. He said that the government should promote the export processing zones in Balochistan to create job opportunities to end joblessness. Roomi said the present situation demands better strategy and improved management to promote cotton crop. The government should take action on the spread of spurious pesticides and the agriculture department should concentrate on quality inspection.

He said that pink bollworm had become a key challenge and the situation can be improved through off season management. He said that Australian growers were conducting only two sprays against bollworm attacks compared to Pakistan where growers are conducting 15-20 sprays against bollworms but failing to get desired results. He told that Multan and Vehari were the most suitable districts for cotton production and the government should announce special incentives for both the districts.

He said that the APTMA should also concentrate on producing cloth instead of depending upon producing only yarn like Bangladesh. The APTMA should work together with growers to produce quality cotton and announce special incentives for growers, he suggested. The past governments had been ignoring cotton uplift for the past two decades, he said. He demanded the government take steps for betterment of crop production.