Agriculture: Senate body apprised of crop situation

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research was informed on Wednesday that due to the absence of appropriate crop zoning in the country, the area under cotton sowing had drastically reduced by 26% posing serious threats for the production of major exportable cash crop. Briefing the committee, which was chaired by Senator Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Cotton Commissioner Dr Khalid Abdullah said that cotton arrival in the local market was reduced by 700,000 bales as compared to the corresponding period of last year. He said up to December 15, about 9.96 million bales were arriving in the local market for ginning as well as for exporting as compared to the arrival of 10.6 million bales in the same period of last year. He informed the committee that crop zoning was vital for sustainable agriculture growth and national food security and urged the need for proper regulation of industries to avoid crop shifting issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2018.

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