Growers decry cotton price decline

Complain of high expenses, burden of loans

BAHAWALNAGAR:

Cotton farmers are facing financial losses as the prices of the produce have fallen below the official support price across the province.

Earlier, the district administration had failed to provide fertiliser and pesticides to the growers at the prices set by the government.

The government had fixed the support price of cotton in March at Rs8,500 per 40kg. However, it is being bought from farmers at Rs6,000 to Rs7,000 per 40kg in all the markets across Punjab.

A local farmer, Iftikhar Ahmed, told The Express Tribune that the growers had spent a hefty amount on fuel for water supply and fertiliser and put in six months or labour on the crop.

He said he had also obtained loan to meet then expenses and had hoped to pay it back after harvesting the crop and also earn from it for the next half year.

However, when he time to sell the produce has come, ginners and hoarders are buying it ad low rates, he complained.

Also read: Record cotton production lifts textiles

Another farmer, Sheikh Afzal, said Bahawalnagar was the second largest cotton producing district in the country and the top in Punjab.

Last year, the government had set the support price of Rs8,500 per 40kg to encourage cotton farmers after the production dropped to the lowest level in four decades. Now the fresh crop had entered the market but the official rate was not being implemented, he said. He said the cotton was being bought from farmers at Rs6,000 to Rs7,000 per maund instead of the official rate.

Afzal said most of the local farmers had already switched to cultivating other crops due to the low price of cotton in the country. If the trend continued, the production would drop further, he added.

He said cotton was the raw material of the country’s largest export sector, textiles. If it would not be provided to the industry or have to be imported at high prices, the ability of the country’s textile industry to compete in the global market would be dented, he warned.

Agriculture Department Deputy Director Chaudhry Latifullah said in reply to a question that the official price of Rs8,500 had been announced but the notification in this regard had not been issued yet.

He said the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) had not begun procuring cotton so far and the sale on the support price would be ensured after the process would begin.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2023.