Summer heatwave threatens Pakistan's cotton crops

June 10, 2024 (MLN): A scorching summer is threatening cotton production in Pakistan, the world’s fifth-largest grower, which counts on the crop to prop up its struggling economy, Bloomberg reported.

Cotton fibers are the backbone of the country’s textile industry, its largest manufacturing sector, which exported $17 billion worth of garments in the last fiscal year through June.

This year, Pakistan hopes to increase production to 10.9 million bales, each weighing 170 kilograms, from 8.4m bales last fiscal year, according to the country’s Central Cotton Committee.

But extreme temperatures are thwarting that plan, wilting crops during a key development period and attracting pests.

So far, about 50,000 acres of cotton plantations, 9% of the total, have been damaged by abnormal heat in Sindh, one of the country’s most fertile provinces, said Zahid Hussain Bhurgri, general secretary at Sindh Chamber of Agriculture.

The situation is poised to get worse. The Pakistan Meteorological Department has predicted the rapid onset of drought due to low rainfall and high temperatures, known as flash drought, for the month of June.

That “can lead to crop failure, wildfires and water shortages” in the country’s south, the body said in a note.

High temperatures desiccate saplings and enable white flies to thrive, said Khalid Abdullah, Pakistan’s former cotton commissioner.

The pest feeds on cotton leaves and spreads fatal diseases as the plant weakens.

Heat also affects the soil, depleting groundwater and starving the plants that in Sindh are sown from the start of April.

Besides cotton, excessive heat is also affecting sugarcane, exportable fruits like mangoes, citrus, banana and seasonal vegetables like chillies, tomato, potato and some lentils produced in the provinces of southern Sindh and central Punjab.

The country of 240m people is not new to weather extremes, which climate change is making more frequent.

On May 26, the town of Mohenjo-Daro recorded a near record temperature of 52.5C, and April was found to be the wettest month in 63 years.

Pakistan has so far failed to manage the risks posed by climate change, said Ahmad Jawad, chief of the agriculture committee at the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the nation’s biggest trade association.

Among other measures, he suggested building small dams that could be used as temporary reservoirs during acute water shortages, and breeding heat-resistant seed varieties.

On June 03, the International Rescue Committee said rising temperatures represented a deadly threat to Pakistanis, 8.6m of whom are now experiencing food insecurity.

In the country, as much as “26 districts are likely to be affected by the heat waves” it said in a note.

The IRC also said that a scorched land can worsen the impacts of flooding, to which Pakistan is prone, as dry soil is unable to absorb water and mitigate runoff.

Copyright Mettis Link News