Daily Times

In a sharp twist of fate, Pakistan’s white gold is quietly leaving through the back door. That too, right under the government’s nose. Not long ago, cotton clothing used to be our pride and joy. Cotton kings reined supreme as they supplied goods to hundreds–if not thousands–of mills across the world. Alas! Those days are long gone. Far from exporting raw cotton, we are nowhere close to even meeting our own needs. With fears over not meeting production targets this season, cotton prices are touching an overwhelming 11-year high. Since rumours are already abuzz about the crop plummeting to its lowest in three decades, import bills are set to tower to the tune of $3 billion. What a heart-wrenching drop from an output of over 14 million bales in our golden days. Clearly, our fragile economy is not ready to brave such a disastrous scale of damage. And while Islamabad may satisfy itself by setting a good enough target, the fact that we could hardly produce six million bales last year is a serious cause for concern.

Now, this is not to haul the present administration over the coals for the ongoing dismal performance. For the crisis runs much, much deeper. If years of bad weather and pest outbreaks have kept our output graph at bay, a change in national priorities was just as detrimental. Sugarcane has largely replaced cotton as the country’s favourite. The white shalwar-qameez millionaires that used to run the cotton circuit have become sugar sultans; wielding their decades-old influence to play fiddle with the market. We are still grappling with the after-effects of last year’s severe sugar shortage. The much-touted crusade against the sugar mafia appears lost amid the political hullaballoo. Though these agro-kings cannot be blamed whatsoever for choosing a more profitable route, why were their mills greenlighted to operate in Pakistan’s cotton belt? That should be the question.

There are reports of cotton growing areas being reduced by 20 per cent in Punjab and Sindh this year. The heartland of cotton has now been pressed to cater to the high returns from sugarcane farming. Shouldn’t we have been more serious about a crop that helped us fetch about 60 per cent of our revenues?

For those who may argue that the textile industry is still booming and key players are operating at full capacity, this recovery is setting off via imported crutches. Thus, there is nothing positive about the state of balance.

Even if Pakistani exporters do manage to procure large international orders, how can they compete with a well-established Indian market, which has a visible edge of home-grown raw cotton?

Nonetheless, the government cannot afford to be a silent spectator to the destruction of our agricultural backbone. Since this is not Rome and PM Khan is no Nero. Just taking notice of hundreds of thousands of jobless farmers and labourers won’t do the deed. The skipper needs to take a proactive approach; building on inter-provincial coordination and extensive research (to develop disease-resistant varieties). Although there remain temporary solutions to open more doors to imported cotton–reaching out to CARs, making a sweet deal with India–there is no shortcut to success. The only sustainable way out is incentivising cotton farmers to cling on. To remain standing. To persevere so that we bring back our hour of splendour. *