MULTAN, March 18th:"We would not be able to run our ginning factories in next season of 2017-18 due to burden of taxes and other crisis ," said Chairman of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA)Dr.Jeso Mal while submitting budget proposals/recommendations and apprising it of their grievances to Standing Committee of National Assembly for Finance and Revenue in Islamabad.He said that there was only Textile Industry was the buyer of cotton and there is no other buyer in the country to break the monopoly of APTMA. In his budget proposals ,PCGA Chairman demanded a bail out cum incentive oriented package for the ginners .Since Cotton is an important cash crop and lifeline of textile industry.Millions of farmers are directly associated with cultivation and harvesting of cotton crop and sale of lint,Government should announce a National Cotton Policy with the consent of farmers ,ginners andother stake holders before the sowing of cotton crop and a comprehensive bailout and incentive oriented package must be announced forthwith.Ginning be declared as tax-free industry at least for three years. There should be complete ban on sugarcane sowing in core-cotton zone.There should be no permission for setting up of sugar Industry incotton zone. Dr.Jeso Mal told the standing committee of NA that there was a possibility of 20 million bales production if the proposals and recommendation of PCGA are implemented.He said that Millions of farmers are directly associated with cultivation and harvesting of cotton crop and sale of lint. Many others are indirectly linked with cotton value chain. Thus, livelihood of millions of farmers and of those employed along the entire cotton value chain is dependent on this single crop.Chairman PCGA said that Government should take notice of continuous low production of cotton inthe country and responsible departments, researchers, and institutions must be made accountable for not performing their duties properly.To meet that demand, the country needs to boost its cotton production. According to an estimate increasing one million bales in cotton production means half a per cent increase into GDP. That is the reason why it is called silver fibre.He said that the desired targets of cotton production remained a distant dream forthe last three years as it was largely below target. Pakistan is the world's fourth largest cotton producer and a leading exporter of yarn. It is, therefore, stringent efforts are required in many areas to improve cotton production to meet not only the export demand but also domestic requirements. PCGA chairman briefed the committee that Presently cotton crop is facing a number of constraints, including low per acre yield that ranks Pakistan 10th in the world; high price of agriculture inputs (seeds, fertilisers, pesticides etc); higher intensity of insects and pests attack; shortage of good quality, high-yielding, insect and pests resistant varieties of seeds; deficiency of irrigation water; lack of advance technologies; lack of awareness and agro-professionalism; and adulterations in pesticides, fertilisers and seeds. Above all natural factors like unexpected rain, drought, and floods especially in southern Punjab and Sindh. The yield remains low because unfavourable weather conditions at the time of sowing affect germination causing re-sowing of crop, increase incidence of pest attack in the early growth of the crop as well as at the time of flowering and boll formation, decrease in the number of bolls and weight and higher weed intensity.In this context, it is essential to ponder over the means and ways to improve cotton production in the country. The government is well aware of the overwhelming significance of cotton as lifeline of economy. It is looking for different options to visualise Cotton Vision 2020 of 20.70 million bales production. This is only possible making constant efforts in the field of research and for increasing the lint yield per acre by adopting modern production techniques.
