Governor promises better seeds to farmers

Calls for revoking licences of 700 fake seed companies.

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has promised farmers that the government will provide them with Bt cotton seeds as early as next year in order to help boost per acre productivity, which will ultimately benefit the textile sector.

Sarwar, while speaking at the first Textile Summit, said the reason why cotton production in Pakistan had been stagnant for years was that 700 out of 750 seed companies that were providing different varieties of seeds to the farmers, were fake.

“In order to tackle corruption and facilitate the farmers, licences of these 700 seed companies should be revoked,” he said. “I am taking personal interest in providing farmers with original Bt cotton seeds, for which I am holding talks with a multinational giant.”

Talking about textile exports, Sarwar said despite all odds, shipments to the European Union (EU) in the past seven years had increased to $1 billion according to the figures compiled by the EU. He said the government was working with stakeholders of the textile sector in an effort to overcome the challenges and help them cash in on the opportunity provided by the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Plus scheme of the EU.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister of Textile Abbas Khan Afridi disclosed that they were close to finalising the first draft of the textile policy, which would be sent in the next about 20 days to the Economic Coordination Committee for approval.

In the draft, recommendations and suggestions of the stakeholders are also being incorporated. Underlining the need of framing a comprehensive long-term policy, Afridi suggested that both the government and industry should jointly explore and exploit the potential of all sectors.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2014.

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