Cotton production in Pakistan has decreased by 50 percent in the last ten years, from 14 million bales to 6 million bales, resulting in significant losses in Pakistan’s textile sector and economy. Pakistan is losing $2.0 billion directly and at least $10 billion of GDP each year on account of the low production of cotton.
This loss of revenue hurts the poorest of the poor i.e., women in the backward farming community. This low production and decline in cotton areas were due to a lack of research and development by public sector institutions, mainly the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC), it noted, adding that the PCCC was now simply a pale replica of what once played an important role in cotton development in Pakistan.
Since things progressively worsened APTMA over the past 20 years, as none of the cotton varieties developed by the PCCC have been grown commercially. Therefore, the All Pakistan Mills Textile Association (APTMA) on Monday raised objections on the composition of the Committee, and increase the number of APTMA nominations in it, which is restricted to only one among a total of 20 at present.
In its latest correspondence to the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, APTMA, being the biggest stakeholder in using cotton for its finished products, seeks enhanced representation in the reconstituted committee to play a positive role in the betterment of quality cotton production in the country that has dwindled to just 6 million bales.
