The Pakistan government has set an export target of $ 40 billion for goods and services for 2021-22. The export target for textiles stood at $ 21 billion, non-textiles at $ 11.5 billion, and services at $ 7.5 billion. The textile export target can be achieved if the government gives serious attention to cotton production – the primary raw material for the textile industry.

Experts believe that the country will likely miss the cotton production target of 10.5 million bales due to high inputs costs, including fertilizers, diesel, tractors, pesticides, plus water shortage issues. Hence, supporting cotton crops will benefit millions of farmers and support the most important industrial and export sector of textiles, while exports will boost.

Pakistan is the fifth largest producer of cotton globally, with an average production of 1,350 metric tonnes. The current cotton production in the country is just about half of what it was producing until a few years ago and is expected to decrease further in the next few years.

The “cotton country” now faces a shortage of cotton and has to import it to meet its needs. This decrease in cotton production was due to the decrease in incentives to the farmers compared to its preceding years. Experts attribute the decline in cotton production to a lack of research and development. Besides, farmers are cultivating other commodities aside from cotton, mainly sugarcane, rice and maize. Thus, in the last five years, the area under cultivation for the cotton crop has reduced, while the area under sugarcane, rice and maize crops has increased.

We hope that relevant authorities would take immediate steps to manage this problem, provide subsidies and loans to the farmers, and establish an institute for the cotton crop to educate the farmers about modern machinery and fertilizers. (From Aug, issue of Trade Chronicle, Karachi)