HYDERABAD: Leading national and international experts, policymakers and progressive growers on Tuesday voiced serious concern over the persistent decline in cotton production in Pakistan, urging a coordinated, multi-stakeholder strategy to revive the crop — once regarded as the backbone of the country’s agrarian economy.
They were speaking at the opening session of a two-day international conference titled “Cotton Seed Production and Development: Issues and Solutions,” organised by the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tandojam, with support from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad.
Participants emphasised the need for a robust, collaborative platform bringing together public-sector research and academic institutions, private seed companies and policymakers to tackle the multifaceted challenges facing the cotton sector.
Experts attributed the continued decline to climate change, rising temperatures, limited technological innovation in seed development, escalating input costs, volatile market prices and increasing fuel costs. They warned that without farmer-friendly policies and timely interventions, the situation could deteriorate further.
In his presidential address, SAU Vice Chancellor Engr. Prof Dr Altaf Ali Siyal described cotton as a strategic crop, contributing around one per cent to the national GDP and about five per cent to agricultural value addition, while supporting millions of livelihoods.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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