Farmers warn of further dip in cotton production

Against requirement of 15 million cotton bales, only 8 million bales were produced locally in 2019

HYDERABAD: While Pakistan has been witnessing a drop in cotton production and an increase in the crop's imports during the last few years, a farmers' lobbying group has predicted a further dip in its production in 2020 if matters regarding the support price and seeds are not immediately resolved.

"The government should fix the buying price at Rs5,000 per bale and ensure that the prevailing problems of the shortage of seeds and sale of spurious seeds are immediately done away with," said the Sindh Abadgar Ittehad's president, Nawab Zubair Talpur, at a press conference in Hyderabad on Monday.

He argued that both the low price of the crop and the ordeal of acquiring quality seeds, as well as the water shortage issue, were discouraging farmers from cultivating cotton.

Talpur recalled that against the country's requirement of 15 million cotton bales, only 8 million bales were produced locally in 2019, while the remaining demand was fulfilled through imports.

He added that the government not only had to spend $1.5 billion from its precious foreign exchange reserves due to this, but it also suffered losses of billions of rupees in revenue collection by waiving the import duties. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2020.