Daily Times

Cotton crop arrival in the local markets has witnessed about 49.37 percent growth during the first week of current month (September) as compared the arrival of the same month of last year.

By September 01, 2023 about 3.041 million cotton bales were arrived in local markets as compared the arrival of 1.539 million bales of same month of last year, said an official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

Talking to APP here on Friday, he said that encouraging trend in local cotton output was mainly attributed to the provision of certified quality seeds as well as incentives introduced by the government to ensure proper and fair rate of returns to growers across the county. The of crop arrival from Sindh Province, he said also grew by 57.84 percent as the province harvested over 1.901 million of cotton bales as against the arrival of 801,772 bales of same period of last year.

Meanwhile, cotton crop arrival from the Punjab Province were recorded at 1.068 million bales as compared the arrival of 703,993 bales of last year, which posted an increase of 51.82 percent, he added.

The crop arrival from Balochistan grew by 51.92 percent as province harvested 70,600 bales as compared to 33,945 bales of same period last year, he said adding that during the period under review, 168,726 cotton bales were also exported , where as 2,615,271 purchased by the textile sector, which was 49.35 percent higher then the last year’s purchase.

He said that the ministry in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders were also organizing awareness on field-secessions for crop management and pest control to achieve higher output.

The Ministry of National Food Security and Research in collaboration with Central Cotton Research Institute Multan organized pesticide management workshops for cotton growers in order to avoid their harmful impact on human health and the environment, he added.

Meanwhile, about 25 master trainers were also trained for further disseminating training to growers on innovative crop sowing techniques, fertilizers and pesticide management to enhance the per-acre output of cotton during the current season, he added.

Over 100 farmers from different crop-producing areas were also trained on the latest production technology, which was aiming to attain higher per-acre cotton output to enhance local production of this major cash crop of the country.

Besides, the government was also working to ensure the availability of certified seeds for different crops including cotton, wheat, rice, maize and other major and minor crops to enhance crop output to achieve sustainable agriculture growth and social development in the country.

In this regard, the track and traceability of certified seed was launched and the traceability data revealed that total cotton seed requirements were estimated at 41,048 metric tons, whereas seed availability was registered at 25,986 metric tons.