CCAC projects cotton production at 12.22mn bales

TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) has projected cotton production in the country at 12.22 million bales for the current season 2011-12.

The first meeting of the CCAC held on Wednesday with Shahid Rashid, Secretary Ministry of Textile Industry in the chair. Representatives of the provincial governments, farmers, Karachi Cotton Association (KCA), Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), All Pakistan textile Mills Association (APTMA), Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and Department of Plant Protection (DPP) also attended the meeting.

After a detailed deliberation on various aspects of cotton production the committee reached an agreement that cotton crop of 12.223 million bales of 170 kg each i.e. 2.078 million tons from 6956607 acres is expected this year.

According to the projection, Punjab will produce 9.750 million bales cotton (1.657 tons) from 6210000 acres, Sindh will produce 2.400 million bales (0.40800 tons) from 664000 acres, Balochistan will produce 0.069 million bales (0.01173 tons) from 77407 acres and Khyber-Pakhtukhwa is projected to produce 0.004 (0.00068 tons) from 5200 acres.

The Ministry of Textile Industry informed the participants that cotton crop was sowed on the area of 0.65 million hectares in Sindh and 2.5 million hectares in Punjab. Moreover, this year cotton crop was planted on 0.67% and 12.25 % above the target area set for Punjab and Sindh province, respectively.

Standing crop was good, Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) disease incidence and pest attack was low as compared to the last years and a bumper crop of about 15 million bales was expected, but recent rain and floods in Sindh damaged over 50 thousand hectares, which is more than 75 percent of cotton cultivated area of the province. Similarly, consistent rains in Punjab resulted in shedding of flowers and immature fruiting bodies on an area of about 12 thousand hectares.

It was also discussed that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is emerging as cotton growing area and a substantial increase in the cotton cultivated area in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank has been reported, whereas, this year over 100 acres of cotton was also planted in District Sawabi. The sMinistry also expected an increasing trend of cotton cultivation in the province after the commencement of Gomal Zam irrigation project, which will irrigate 163 thousand acres. The representative of KP government asked Aptma to provide incentives to the poor growers in the area to enhance cotton production. In reply Aptma representative said that they were ready to provide free of cost seed to the growers of that area.

Secretary Shahid Rashid also asked the PCGA to standardize the weight of bales according to international standards. The committee also decided to review these projected estimates of production on November 23, 2011 in its next meeting.