Cotton production to miss FY 2021/22 target by 19.42pc

LAHORE: The cotton output in the current crop year of 2021/22 is likely to be 19.42 percent lower than the government's estimate of 10.5 million bales.

The cotton output for the current year has been estimated at 8.46 million bales.

The country’s cotton output will remain short of the textile industry’s demand of about 14-15 million bales despite prospects of relatively higher production this year than the output of last year.

The latest estimates of cotton output for the current year was shared in a meeting of newly constituted Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC), which was held on Wednesday.

Syed Fakhar Imam, Minister for National Food Security and Research chaired the meeting.

The minister was told that the province of Sindh expects production of 3.5 million bales in this season.

He was briefed that the climate in this season has been much better than the last season and due to less rainfall overall production is expected to increase.

The production of cotton in Punjab is expected to touch 4.5 million bales at an increase of approximately 8.5 percent from last year.

"Overall cotton production is expected to reach 8.46 million bales," a statement said.

The year 2020 saw 398.6mm rainfall which had a devastating impact on the production whereas this year the rainfall was 78.6mm which has improved the prospect of overall production.

Furthermore, the minister was told that the attack of Mealybug and Whitefly and CLCuV remained significant which has adversely affected the production of cotton.

The minister said it is imperative that awareness amongst farmers is raised regarding contamination control.

The government will be proactive with the provision of quality seed to facilitate farmers, he added.

Minister said the present government after 8 years set an intervention price of Rs5,000/40kg, which encouraged the grower to invest in crop management and harvest high yields.

Growers from Sindh and Punjab also requested to replicate the same in sugarcane and wheat.

Imam said that the government has performed exceptionally well in the last season as Pakistan had the highest production in the top five crops including wheat with record production of 27.5 million tonnes.

Minister said that the government aims to transform the cotton production as well.

"There is a need for a paradigm shift in the yield of this crop as it is one of the major factors of production in our industry," he added.

Minister said that small holders will only be able to grow wheat if the quality inputs are timely available and in the range of farmer’s access. The minister stressed on establishing linkages between the scientists and farmers mainly to minimize the gap between the results of research farms with that of the actual field.