November 06, 2020: The Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) would meet next week in order to make a second estimation of crop output during the season as well as setting the priorities for next season.
Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam would chair the meeting which would also discuss the ways and means to address the challenges being faced to enhance per-acre production of the crop, said Cotton Commissioner Dr. Khalid Abdullah.
Talking to APP here on Friday, he said that cotton output in the country has been reduced by 35 percent while the national production was revised to 8.59 million bales as against the set targets of 10.89 million bales.
The shortfall was mainly attributed to losses caused by torrential rains in Sindh and insufficient availability of certified seeds and lack of on-farm pest management, he added.
In order to regain the losses during next season, he said that the ministry was evolving a mechanism to ensure the availability of seeds, pesticides and provide them training about crop management.
He said that the ministry has also accelerated work on developing new high-yielding seeds verities to achieve maximum output in order to enhance farm income and fulfill the requirements of the domestic industrial sector.
The CCAC in its first meeting was informed that estimated production in Punjab would be 5.3 million bales against a target of 06 million bales; Sindh 03 million bales against a target of 4.60 million bales, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 6,500 bales, and Balochistan 291,000 bales.
It is worth mentioning here that about 240 metric tons of raw cotton worth $0.271 million exported during the first quarter of the current financial year as compared to the exports of 8,251 metric tons in the corresponding period of last year.
The exports of raw cotton during the last 03 months reduced by 97.50 percent as compared to the same period of last year, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
However, during the period from July-September, 2020, exports of knitwear increased by 10.46 percent as about 28.406 million dozens knitwear worth $860.785 million exported as compared to 30.56 million dozens valuing $779.293 million of the same period last year, it added.
Meanwhile, exports of bed wear also grew by 8.40 percent as 109,202 metric tons of bed wear worth $651.487 million exported as against 123,100 metric tons valuing $601.024 million of the same period last year.
During the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21, about 47,803 metric tons of towels costing 204.608 million exported as compared to the exports of 44,078 metric tons valuing $180.632 million of the same period of last year.
It may be recalled here that the overall textile group exports from the country during the first quarters of the current financial year grew by 2.92 percent as it fetched $3.469 billion against $3.371 billion of the corresponding period of last year.
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