KARACHI: Unfavorable weather conditions, shortage of canal water and lack of attention by the government have raised fears of an unprecedented decline in local cotton cultivation this year, which has created threats to imports of high-value edible oil along with cotton. .
The future of the cotton industry is also at stake due to factors such as continuous increase in power tariff restricting the activities of textile mills. Due to these factors, there is a wave of concern among the stakeholders of the cotton sector, especially the farmers.
Chairman Cotton Generators Forum Ehsanul Haque said that during Cotton Year 2023-24, cotton was cultivated on an area of about 50 lakh acres in Punjab and about 14 lakh 50 acres in Sindh, which produced a total of about 84 lakh bales of cotton. While according to some reports, this production was around one crore bales.
He said that this year, surprisingly, the federal government has not set any overall national production and cultivation targets for cotton, nor has it set a support or intervention price for cotton. Due to the extraordinary drop in cotton prices in the international markets, some Pakistani textile mill owners have started advance deals to purchase cotton from abroad.
