Contamination in raw cotton: government losing about $400 million-500 million per annum: experts

Pakistan is losing about $400-500 million per annum due to contamination in raw cotton and its made-ups and due to non-implementation of Cotton Standardisation System - the cotton is quoted at Index B and the difference between both the indices is about 6 to 7 cents/bales.
This was revealed by the country's experts while addressing on the 3rd day of the 75th plenary meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) here on Tuesday. The event was organized by the Ministry of Textile Industry which was attended by the 400 delegates from 30 members' states.
Hassan Iqbal, Secretary Ministry of Textile Industry while briefing the media admitted that Pakistan has yet to explore the potential of cotton. The country can easily double its production after obtaining the latest seed technology and following the international practices. Government has been in process of approving Plant Breeders Right Bill and other priority is to encourage production and exports of value added products, Hassan added.
According to the country statement of Pakistan to meet the demand for extra long staple cotton, about two million bales are imported annually. In 2015-16 cotton production declined by 28% at 9.92 million bales or 1.686 million tons, mainly because of climate change, competition with other crops, lower market prices and outbreak of pink bollworm. Future cotton policy envisages a number of strategies which includes germplasm improvements, development of hybrid cotton, much improved and better farm and crop management, bringing additional area under cultivation, especially in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and minimising post-harvest losses.
India's country statement maintained that poor quality and sub-optimal productivity of cotton has been an area of concern in India. Several measures have been adopted by Government of India to improve the quality and productivity of cotton in the country. With a series of measures, India has improved its cotton yield from a level of around 300 Kg/hectare to 482 Kg/hectare. However, even this productivity is far below the world average of 693 Kg/hectare.
Agriculture experts gathered from 30 countries of the world asked for using efficient irrigation technologies to conserve water and to produce more crops for tackling the increasing food demands. Inefficient use of water was reducing the ground water level and available water resources were facing immense pressure due to increasing population across the glob.
Speaking on the occasion, WWF Pakistan Representative, Arif H Makhdum said that Agri sector and cotton crop was consuming about 95 percent of fresh water in the country. He said that the cotton sector was a source of livelihood for over 1.4 million farming families and accommodating skilled and semi-killed labours in the country. The participants were informed per capita surface water availability for irrigation was 5260 M3 per year in 1951 in Pakistan, 1100 M3 in 2006 and 956 M3 in 2015. The minimum water requirement to avoid being a "water short country" is 1,000 cubic meters per capita.
S Hassan from Agriculture Research Corporation from Sudan informed the delegates on ways to reduce water utilisation in cotton cultivation. Daniiar Andakulov of Kyrgyzstan explained water from cold countries' perspective. Sohail Harral and Karen Prem discussed the cotton contamination issue.
The spinning and textile industries have become more sensitive to contamination with foreign matter, such as plastics and polypropylene. The inclusion of some plant material from the field is unavoidable, although specific measures can be implemented to minimise trash pick-up from the field and eliminate contaminants during ginning and spinning. Contaminants, especially seed coat fragments and synthetic materials, added during harvesting and handling of seed cotton, reduce yarn and fabric quality by creating serious defects.
The fourth session was on burning issue of Textile industry challenges. Kanwar M Usman from the Ministry of Textile Industry discussed the issues pertaining to compliance and modernizations. Usman said that Government of Pakistan is committed to abide by international labor standards through promulgation of various labor laws to ensure worker's security of employment, safe working conditions, fair wage, health and safety, payment of wages and social protection. Further, the country has also promulgated laws for employment, vocational training, apprenticeship, rehabilitation of disabled persons and prohibition of sexual harassment at the workplace, he added.