Daily Times

Last month, we were lamenting the vanishing act of Pakistan’s white gold. Islamabad’s lassitude to a grave crisis in the cotton sector brewing right underneath its nose was downright deplorable. As the crop continues to plummet to its lowest in three decades, our import bill is set to rise by 44 per cent this year. A similarly mind-blowing increase in trading price (11-year high) is set to wreak havoc upon traders and ginners.

Now, what slip-ups led to the woeful decline in production is a tale as old as time. Only last year, the Cotton Association had released a disturbing trend: from seven billion bales produced in 2019 to five million bales. Yet, the sugar sultans refused to pay any heed to repeated warnings by sector specialists. The past decade has seen Pakistan carve out a policy that blatantly favours sugarcane over and above our beloved cotton crop. It is one thing to stand on the floor of the parliament and lament the power punches of a mafia that plays first fiddle with the treasury as well as the public. Doing something meaningful to change the course of a river running through the lands of our biggest cash crop for decades to make way for lush cane plantation: not so much.

While the only stopgap solution remains knocking on other countries for their cotton, we cannot run on imported raw materials forever. Isn’t the state machinery already aware of our sky-touching import bill? Can we actually afford this price tag to touch $3 billion? Under no circumstances can our cotton sector successfully compete with countries like India that take great pride in self-reliance. With the country ready to raise the sales tax to a whopping 17 per cent, the ground has been paved for a wildcat strike. The good news from Faisalabad’s textile mills–being overwhelmed with export orders. But now that New Delhi’s market is getting back on track post-COVID, it is imperative to put an end to impediments faced by farmers. The Khan administration has already made headlines by prioritising agricultural growth through a farm policy to the tune of Rs 300 billion in 2019. However, the fact that it did not consider the scale of damage incurred upon its golden crop is a buzzkill. Instead of feeding its textile industry with supplies worth billions of dollars, investing in high-yielding strains that are pest-resistant is a far better option.

The skipper now needs, more than ever, to launch an attack against the sugar cartels and incentivise small farmers. Taking notice of rampant unemployment in ginning factories seems like an eyewash if no regard is paid to the Damoclean sword hanging over the sector. Let’s hope our rulers take a deeper look within; coordinating with provinces and leading players. After all, Bangladesh and Vietnam are no little green men. *