A Cotton Vision in focus

Coming in the midst of an unending quandary on the cotton front, it is heartening to learn that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, at the meeting of Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on December 6, directed the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, to prepare a Cotton Vision.
An official announcement after the meeting, said that he laid emphasis on the proposed vision covering all areas of activity. This he elaborated by making pointed reference to greater per acre yield, linkage between production and demand, both in domestic and international markets, besides research on BT/hybrid cotton, as also contamination-free cotton, which has lately gained much importance.
This development has followed a Recorder Report (December 6) hinting the strong likelihood of the government fixing the cotton (Phutti) intervention price for Kharif 2006 crop at Rs 1,000-Rs 1,050 per 40 kilogram, against Rs 975 per 40 kg of the current crop.
The report also disclosed that a meeting for preliminary assessment was held on December 5, at Agriculture Prices Commission (APCom), which was chaired by the Cotton Commissioner and Acting Agriculture Development Commissioner (AADC), Qadir Bux Baloch.
This meeting was stated to have made a preliminary finding that intervention price needed to be increased to encourage the farmers to grow more cotton. Further, according to an official, the report said, prices of inputs, especially of fertilisers and pesticides, were on the rise and that this would further increase the production cost of the crop in 2006.
Saying that this was an initial proposal and it would go through various stages before final approval by the government, the official indicated that the Minfal would submit a summary to the Cabinet for approval of the proposed increase in the cotton intervention price.
Viewed in the perspective of certain recent reports, with added emphasis on contamination-free cotton, the focus on intervention price, will suggest a seemingly unending quandary on the cotton front. Which, to say the least, is utterly disappointing.
As for revival of the quest for contamination-free cotton, at its last meeting the ECC approved, in principle, a clean cotton production plan, along with financial incentives. Moreover, it decided to constitute a committee, comprising Secretaries of Textile, Finance, Minfal, and the Chairman of Trading Corporation of Pakistan, to finalise the modus operandi for the new plan.
As earlier pointed out in these columns, strangely enough, the Textile Minister, Mushtaq Ali Cheema, had announced, ahead of the ECC meeting, the government's decision to pay Rs 100 per 40-kg premium on production of contamination-free cotton, and assured the growers and ginners of payment within 45 days.
His ministry was also stated to have proposed procurement of 100,000 bales clean lint cotton by the TCP from the ginners, with the government providing a credit line of Rs 1.080 billion for the purchase.
It will also be noted that the ECC decided to allocate Rs 100 million as a budgetary grant to the TCP for payment of Rs 100 per 40 kg, premium to growers/suppliers, for clean seed-cotton (phutti). More to this, Dr Ashfaq Hassan Khan, Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry, had disclosed submission of a summary by the secretaries' committee to the Prime Minister, to seek approval of the financial package for the ginners and growers.
At the same time, however, the Prime Minister had directed the Minfal to prepare a plan for production of 'hybrid cotton', focusing on the vital role of high quality seed in the production of the kind of cotton that could meet the requirements of international markets.
From the foregoing it may appear that major hindrances in the implementation of the Cotton Standardisation Ordinance, 2002, of which contamination-free cotton is an integral part, have been removed. The ordinance ran into trouble in its implementation soon after promulgation.
For the Board of Directors of the Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute's rejected most of the suggestions of its special sub-committee and dissolved it. That was in 2003, the time when the disbanded body was reported to have emphasised the need of putting in place a monitoring body to enforce cotton standards, pointing out that the task could not be left to the growers and ginners.
It was believed also to have disagreed with its own regulatory role to enforce standards of cotton, pointing out that it had no scope in the government's policy of deregulation and market economy.
Since then, a number of disjointed measures have been introduced for making a beginning in that direction, including earmarking of certain areas in major cotton growing belts, to benefit the growers.
All this put together, will certainly point to the need of an expeditious effort to make a beginning in assuring production of really high quality cotton, for a coherent, purposeful vision to be launched.