LAHORE-Caretaker Federal Minister for Industries and Commerce Gohar Ejaz has marked World Cotton Day by announcing that Pakistan has achieved record cotton production after a lapse of eleven years.
“Cotton arrivals crossing the five million bales mark on October 1, 2023 is a momentous achievement for Pakistan. This is even more than last full year’s figure of 4.9 million bales, which was a 34 percent YoY (year on year) decline over the preceding year,” he added.
He was addressing a press conference here at APTMA House on Saturday. Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi, APTMA (North) Chairman Kamran Arshad, Senior Vice Chairman Asad Shafi, former Chairman APTMA Syed Ali Ahsan, Secretary General Raza Baqir and other members were also present on the occasion. Gohar said that World Cotton Day is being celebrated in the country after eleven years when Punjab had produced eight million bales, which was set to reach five million bales during the current year. He also highlighted that the province had produced 3.3 million bales besides 1.6 million bales in Sindh.
He congratulated Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi, Chief Secretary Punjab and Secretary Agriculture Punjab for their dedicated work towards enhancing cotton production in the province. The country would save foreign exchange worth $ 3 billion with this increase in cotton production, he stressed.
According to him, Pakistan has become part of five major cotton producers in the world and all credit goes to the Punjab chief minister to achieve this stature. He also announced Rs 100 million fund for the Cotton Research Centre on behalf of APTMA, making it clear that APTMA would not fund salaries of the staff of the centre. Gohar said, “This remarkable growth showcases the dedication and hard work of our farmers and the resilience of our cotton industry.”
He said the cotton production this year is estimated to be more than 100 percent compared to that of the last year. The cotton bales produced this year are likely to be more than 12 million which was five million in the past year, he expressed the hope and pointed out that the production of cotton increased by 71 percent annually.
The minister stated that the cotton bales delivered to factories till September 30 were more than five million. The arrival of cotton bales in Punjab reached 2.1 million with an increase of 34 percent while that in Sindh reached three million with an increase of 113 percent. He pointed out that the production had dropped by 34 percent last year. He said efforts were being made to ensure affordability as well as availability of regionally competitive tariff for the textile industry in Punjab. Either the cross subsidy would bring to an end for the industry or dedicated power supply from a power plant in Punjab would be ensured ahead, he said.
On this occasion, Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi appreciated the Agriculture Department for its hard work to revive cotton production in the province. He also extended his special thanks to Pakistan Army for controlling the attack of white fly on the cotton crop, saying that a timely action avoided disaster to the standing crop in Punjab and Sindh.
According to him, revival of the research centre with the help of APTMA is underway. He said the Punjab government has already rescinded seed approval once it is obtained from the federal government. He said the Provincial Minister for Industry S. M. Tanveer was in Multan to mark the World Cotton Day. APTMA (North) Chairman Kamran Arshad thanked both the Federal Minister for Commerce and the Chief Minister for reviving cotton production in the country and extended standing ovation to them along with the association members.