Farming concerns: ‘Mills will buy 15 million cotton bales’

MULTAN: “All Pakistan Textile Mills Association will buy 15 million cotton bales from farmers till June 2015,” said APTMA regional chairman Anees Khawaja on Wednesday. Talking to newsmen, he said nearly 85 per cent cotton was purchased from Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sarogdha and Sahiwal. He said 42 specialist agricultural scientists had been hired to research new varieties of cotton. He said new research would expand production of quality cotton and improve cultivation methods in south Punjab. He said grievances of farmers would be resolved through APTMA’s regional office in Multan. He said a new office would be inaugurated soon for comfort and convenience of farmers. He appreciated the government’s decision to exempt textile industry from load shedding. He said trade concessions were estimated to boost Pakistan’s exports to Europe by up to billion a year and create one million jobs over the next five years. “If the load shedding exemption had not been granted, the textile industry would have had to lay off workers during the three months of winter due,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2014.