MINISTRY OF TEXTILE INDUSTRYGovernment of Pakistan
Press Release
Islamabad, February 19, 2015: The 4th meeting of Federal
Committee on Cotton (FCC) was held at the Ministry of Textile
Industry to fix the targets for cotton area and production for the
cotton crop season 2015/16. Mr. Amir Marwat, Secretary, Ministry of
Textile Industry chaired the meeting. The meeting was attended by
Director General, Federal Seed Certification & Registration
Department, Member (Crop Sciences), Pakistan Agricultural Research
Council; Director General, Agriculture (Ext) Punjab; representative
of Crop Reporting Department, Sindh, Punjab Seed Council,
Agricultural Research Institute, DI Khan, Director Research,
Director Marketing & Economic Research from Pakistan Central
Cotton Committee, Director Central Cotton Research Institute
Sakrand, representative from Fertilizer Industry, Trading
Corporation of Pakistan; Meteorological Department and progressive
farmer.
The Secretary, Ministry of Textile Industry apprised the house
about the recent approval of Textile Policy (2014-19) which
emphasis for provision of higher quantity and quality of basic raw
material for producing high value products. He added that the new
Textile Policy stress on achieving goals through sectoral
development and cotton is the first step of the strategy. He also
assured the farming community that all efforts will be made for
provision of better prices to the cotton produce.
Dr. Khalid Abdullah, Cotton Commissioner, Ministry of Textile
Industry presented the previous targets and achievements of cotton
crop. He thoroughly reviewed the previous cotton situation and
stated that the series of meetings were held with officials from
federal, provincial and private sector seed agencies for provision
of certified seed having higher germination percentage which led to
availability of around 45% certified seed last year.
The representative from National Meteorological Department,
Islamabad reported that the forthcoming cotton season will receive
normal rainfall. However, low spell of rains are expected in April
in the Punjab province which may result in soil crust problem and
farmers must be educated for delaying of cotton sowing in
consultation with Meteorological Department to avoid seed loss. He
further stated that 10-15% more water will be available due to
rapid melting of snow and glaciers due to rise in temperature.
Moreover, the representative from Indus River System Authority
(IRSA) also reported no shortage of canal irrigation water during
the season. The representative from Fertilizer Industry also
reported that there will be no shortage of urea fertilizer during
the season. He also hoped that due to provision of LNG to Power
Plants, the fertilizer industry would be getting extra gas which
will produce much more fertilizer even available for export. The
representative from Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) stated that
the State Bank of Pakistan has set a target of Rs.500 billion for
agriculture credit and out of this, the ZTBL will disburse Rs.90
billion loans for agriculture sector including Rs.15 billion for
cotton sector only.
Dr. Muhammad Ali Talpur, Director Marketing & Economic
Research, PCCC stated that as per projections by International
Cotton Advisory Committee, the world area and production may
decrease due to lower prices last year and consumption may increase
during coming cotton season. Therefore, the planning for
intervention price may be done in time.
Dr. Shakeel Ahmad Khan, Director General, Federal Seed
Certification & Registration Department assured that much
higher quantity of certified seed would be available during coming
cotton crop season and seed companies selling fake seed will be
de-registered.
The Committee agreed to fix the overall cotton area and
production targets for the year 2015/16 as below:
Area (Mil. Hectares)Production (Mil. Bales)
Punjab 2.42810.500
Sindh0.6504.400
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa0.00050.00152
Balochistan0.0430.588
PAKISTAN3.121515.48952
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