This year, Pakistan will grow its own cotton, so it started to sow cotton in Sindh and Punjab. Sindh will grow cotton on an area of 600,000 hectares and 50% of the sowing was done in the lower parts of the province, Sindh Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahoo said on Monday.
Mr. Rahoo attended a ministerial meeting on cotton and wheat in Islamabad which is chaired by Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam. Mr. Rahu showed his concern about high input costs, including prices of DAP, urea, and pesticides. He also expressed concern about the quality of the seeds supplied to farmers in the meeting.
Cotton sowing in Punjab:
The agriculture secretary of Punjab told the meeting that cotton will be planted on 400,000 hectares and that sowing so far in an area of 13% has been completed.
He informed the meeting that the Punjab government was providing subsidies to farmers in cotton seeds and fertilizers under its subsidy program. The Punjab Seed Council accepted 15 new cotton varieties.
The official also said that the pesticide subsidy for whitefly will be distributed to farmers in southern Punjab through the “Kisan Card”. The provincial government is also controlling the tracking and tracing of the cottonseed so that quality seed can reach producers, he added.
Baluchistan’s Minister of Agriculture, Eng Zamarak, informed the meeting that the provincial government decided to expand cotton cultivation in 20 districts. The quality of cotton in Balochistan is much greater than in other provinces, he said. Balochistan is the first province to produce organic cotton from non-GM seeds, he added.
