Country may miss Kharif targets

The country may miss production targets of major Kharif crops including cotton and rice in the current season due to shortage of irrigation water, heavy rains and floods and high input costs, sources revealed to Business Recorder. Due to shortage of irrigation water at the time of sowing, farmers opted not to bring the maximum area under cultivation, which is one of the causes of decline in crop output, sources maintained.
The cotton production target may be missed by 1.3 million bales during the current season. The Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) has projected cotton production at 13.3 million bales for the current season against the initial estimate of 14.6 million bales.
Official sources revealed that the main reasons for less cotton sowing during 2012-13 were low prices last year, shortage of irrigation water at the time of sowing, and comparatively higher incidence of Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) disease this year. Moreover, the country also witnessed heavy rains during September which damaged an area of 234,982 acres in Punjab and Sindh.
Punjab province lost over 142,500 acres out of 5,812,000 acres sown this year due to heavy rains and flood. Standing cotton crop in Sindh was also severely damaged as a total of 92,400 and 62,500 acres were complete and partially damaged, respectively. It appears that Pakistan has lost more than 234,000 acres out of 6,499,000 acres on which cotton was grown this year and the remaining area of 6,264,000 acres is expected to produce 13.3 million bales of cotton against the target of 14.6 million bales during 2012-13.
The country had estimated rice production target at 6.5 million tons for the current year, however, it would be no more than 6.1 million tons, thus registering a decline of 0.4 million tons following decline in sowing area and water shortage.
Officials further revealed that the government had estimated sugarcane production at 62 million tons for the current season which may be achieved. Chairman Pakistan Agri-Forum, Ibrahim Mughal, held government responsible for missing the targets of crops output. "There is no agriculture policy under which crop sowing, production, import and export can be regulated," he said while talking to Business Recorder.
Mughal further said other reasons behind missing the production target were water shortage and non-availability of electricity in the country, besides poor management of respective agriculture departments. Other agriculture experts said that high input cost including fertilisers was another reason behind the shortfall in production estimates. The small farmers were not able to bear the high price and failed to provide the required quantity of fertilizers to their fields, which also affected crop output.