National Assembly body concerned over use of unapproved Bt cotton seed

NA Standing Committee on Food and Agriculture while showing grave concern over the use of unapproved seed of Bt cotton across the country, has directed all the relevant departments to devise a viable plan within 3 to 4 years to protect the crop from diseases.
The Committee recommended constitution of a joint research and investigation team comprising representatives of Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, PARC and other provincial organisations to submit work plan within a month to run cotton programmes in the country.
The committee which met here on Friday with Javed Iqbal Warraich, Chairman Standing Committee in the chair, directed the Agriculture Ministry, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and other concerned departments to take the issue on priority basis.
The agenda of the committee was to discuss the cotton policy of the government, sowing time of cotton, long-term effects of conventional cotton verities, Bt cotton and hybrid cotton verities, distribution of cotton seed varieties throughout the country, pest and cotton disease pattern/problems in cotton production and effectiveness of pesticides/insecticides in controlling cotton pest and diseases.
Nadeem Afzal Chan, Abdul Majeed Khanan Khail, Muhammad Arshad Khan Laghari, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Dr Abdul Kadir Khanzada, Syed Haider Ali Shah, Mir Changez Khan Jamali and Chaudhary Tassadiq Masood Khan attended the meeting. The committee expressed concern that during the ongoing year the cotton production targets were not satisfactory due to multiple reasons.
The committee was informed that per acre cotton production in Sindh for the last three years has been increasing and at present it has reached 320 kg per hectare, while in Punjab, which is the largest cotton producer its per hectare production is over 660 kgs.
Officials of Central Cotton Committee were of the view that due to severe viral attacks on cotton crop in Punjab, the per acre production was below the international standards, while in Sindh climate was favourable for cotton cultivation.
They observed that farmers are using unapproved varieties of Bt cotton, which is responsible for current crisis. The committee showed concern that the farmers in Sindh are using BT cotton seed unofficially on 80 percent of the area under cotton cultivation.
The committee recommended that in case of organic cotton, the area of Balochistan is very suitable and the MinFA should explore the research and design work. It expressed concern that a state-of-the-art agriculture research center in Balochistan is not working due to a little damage by the last year's devastating floods. The committee advised that funds relating to research and design and other projects under MinFA should be released at the earliest. The committee also sought details about illegal appointments made in PARC.