LAHORE:Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi has said that cotton crop is very important for country’s economy.
According to an official sources here on Friday, the minister said: “Every year, Oct 7 is celebrated at international level with regard to cotton crop which highlights its importance.” Cotton was the only source of raw material for the textile industry worldwide and the purpose of celebrating the day was to address the challenges, which were creating hindrance to increase cotton production, he added.
The minister said, “Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of cotton by the grace of Allah Almighty but unfortunately the production of cotton has decreased in the last few years.”
Jahania Gardezi said that Punjab government was planning to increase the production of cotton as a top priority. Due to the efforts of government, during year 2021-22, cotton had increased by about 16 per cent as compared to last year, he added.
He said this year, 0.234 million acres of cotton were damaged due to floods in South Punjab, which reduced production.
Apart from this, due to ongoing climatic changes and non-cultivation of approved varieties, production was also shown declining trend, minister said. Government of Punjab was paying full attention to supply approved varieties of seeds to the farmers and currently, the process of cotton picking was continuing.
The minister said farmers should give special attention to the clean picking of cotton so that it could be sold at good prices in the international market.
It was hoped that today all the stakeholders would give suggestions that would be useful to increase the yield of cotton, he maintained.