Cotton output boost: Govt must take steps on a war footing: KCA

KARACHI: The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) has urged for immediate measures to boost cotton production aimed at reducing the country’s reliance on costly cotton imports.

Addressing a ceremony held to mark World Cotton Day, KCA Chairman Muhammad Atif Shakoor said Pakistan is consistently facing a shortage of cotton and producing low-quality lint, forcing exporters to import cotton to meet their requirements.

“The government must take all possible measures on a war footing to increase cotton production and improve its quality, with the aim of reducing reliance on imports and saving valuable foreign exchange for the country”, he added.

The KCA organized a ceremony on“World Cotton Day” in the Federation House, to celebrate the global importance of cotton and highlight the challenges faced by the world’s cotton economies specially the challenges being faced by the Pakistan to increase production of cotton in the country to meet the rising requirement of raw material of the local textile industry.

Prominent speakers representing various segments of the cotton trade shared their views on the challenges facing Pakistan’s cotton sector. They urged the government to take all necessary measures on an urgent basis to increase cotton production, improve the quality of locally produced cotton and strengthen the overall cotton value chain.

On the occasion, Rizwan Iqbal Umer, Senior Vice-Chairman KCA said that we should pledge to make efforts to increase cotton production, improve quality of cotton and safeguard the interest of growers. He also emphasized that we should play our role to strengthen the cotton trade and textile industry further.

Prem Chand, Vice Chairman of the KCA, urged the KCA, APTMA and PCGA to jointly take up the issue with the government and seek measures to increase cotton production. He stressed the need to improve the quality of domestically produced cotton and called on the government to allow the import of quality cotton seed to achieve the desired results.

Khawaja M. Zubair former Chairman, the KCA said that in order to increase cotton production in the country, government ensure the availability of healthy or certified cotton seeds to the farmers.

Muhammad Arif Piracha, former member of the Executive Committee KCA, said cotton is an environmentally friendly crop and stressed the need to promote its marketing. He suggested developing a dedicated slogan for cotton to create greater awareness and help boost its marketing.

Chandarlal, Member of KCA’s Brokers Advisory Committee and Licensed Cotton Broker siadthat the KCA should send approach the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Federal Minister for Commerce and Finance highlighting the importance of cotton in the GDP of the Country and inform them that with the increase of cotton production, the trade deficit would be reduced considerably.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026