The government will provide Rs 50 per maund cotton seed (phutti) to growers as premium on production and supply of clean and standardised cotton to six selected ginning factories of Sindh. This was decided at a meeting held in Karachi recently under the chairmanship of provincial secretary agriculture, Mohkamuddin Qadri.
Representatives of Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute (PCGA) and agriculture extension department attended the meeting.
A spokesman of the Directorate of agriculture information Sindh, Hyderabad, said that during the current crop, Sindh would produce 30,000 bales of clean and contamination-free cotton, having negligible foreign matter contaminants like Hessian twines, polythene, polypropylene, human and animal hair, toffee and cigarette wrappers etc.
He said the Sindh government had selected six ginning factories in three districts for production of clean cotton. These factories are SLD and Pehloo Mal ginning factories in Mirpurkhas district, Ali and Star ginning factories in Naushahro Feroz and Dadu and Raja ginning factory in Khairpur district.
In this regard, he said a three-member team of TCP, PSCI and agriculture extension would be available at each of the three selected factories, which would certify the quality and cleanliness of the cottonseed to be brought by growers. The premium would be paid directly to the growers by TCP within a week at the rate of Rs50 per maund.
He said that due to contamination of unwanted material in cotton, the country was losing millions of dollars every year, as a result, the government has launched a scheme of providing incentives to ginners and growers to motivate them to produce clean and contamination-free cotton.
He further said a media campaign was also being launched to create awareness among farmers and ginners about the improved techniques of cotton picking, storage, transportation and ginning.
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