June 07, 2023 (MLN): The cotton sowing in the country has been completed over 2.58 million hectares as against the set targets of 2.76 m hectares for the crop season 2023-24 to fulfill the industrial and commercial requirements of local industry as well as for exporting, as APP reported.
Dr. Zahid, Cotton Commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research said that the farming community across the crop-producing areas by the first week of the current month (June) completed crop cultivation over 93.53% of the total area fixed for the season to achieve an output of 12.77m bales.
Talking to APP on Wednesday, he said, "Crop sowing in Punjab has been completed over 95.11% area over 1.92m hectares against the set target of 2.01 million hectares to produce about 8.33 million bales during the current season."
Dr. Zahid stated that Sindh has achieved over 84.49% of its assigned targets and completed crop sowing over 0.56m hectares as compared to the set crop sowing targets of 0.67m hectares.
While the cotton output target for the province is fixed at 4.00m bales.
He said, "During the season, the cotton sowing observed upward momentum in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces,”
"Both the provinces achieved their cultivation targets by 113% and 132.24% respectively."
He added that growth in crop sowing in the two provinces was mainly attributed to the incentives introduced by the current government to revive crop production in the country.
He informed that the crop output of the province was fixed at 0.004m bales, whereas about 0.08m hectares of Balochistan were put under cotton production to produce about 0.43m bales during the period under review.
The cotton commissioner further informed that the incumbent government was taking appropriate measures to revive cotton output and introduced several measures for encouraging local growers.
He said that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had fixed cotton (Phutti) intervention price (CIP) at Rs8,500 per 40kg.
This is to revive cotton production, bring stability to the domestic market, and assure a fair return to farmers in the country.
Besides, the government was also providing Rs1,000 per-acre subsidy on the approved varieties of seeds, and the farmers were also provided with a subsidy worth billions on fertilizers.
The government has also established facilitation centers to ensure technical support and assistance to farmers at their doorsteps during the period from sowing to harvesting.
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Posted on:2023-06-07T17:00:52+05:00
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