President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) Mian Zahid Hussain has said low cotton output is hurting millions of families in farming community and it will decrease exports and GDP. The country will miss the target of cotton production by 4.6 million bales necessitating imports worth four billion dollars to keep textile industry running which will hit balance of payment situation and forex reserves, he said.
The cotton group has 8.5 percent share in GDP, fetches 12 billion through exports while providing jobs to 40 percent of the labour which needs immediate attention of the government, said Mian Zahid Hussain. The situation shouldn't be allowed to take toll on sliding exports and drag down GDP by one percent minimum, he said. "Reasons behind the low cotton output included sudden and unpredictable rains, drought in some areas, low cotton prices and hike in prices of inputs by 15-20 percent and use of substandard seed which has discouraged farmers," he added.
He said that sowing target of cotton was also missed as it was planted on 2.946 million hectares against the target of 3.122 million hectares which can result in disastrous consequences if the trend continued in future. Mian Zahid Hussain lashed out authorities who discounted local wisdom to promote so called genetically modified seed terming it pest resistant which proved otherwise.
The imported seed failed to withstand pink bollworm and whitefly attacks while sprays and medicine to tackle the pests are not available in the market which played havoc with the crop. He said that delay can hurt the economy very badly while country may not remain the fourth largest producer of the cotton.
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