The mechanism and modalities relating to the production of standardised and clean cotton will be discussed at a meeting of the sub-committee scheduled to be held here on September 17.
The decision to constitute the sub-committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Ministry of Textile Industry was taken at a meeting of the Minister's Committee on Production of standardised and clean cotton held under the chairmanship of the commerce minister on September 8 in Islamabad.
The commerce minister chaired the meeting as the textile industry minister was abroad. The meeting of 19-member sub-committee will discuss the issue with particular emphasis on passing the benefit of premium to the growers.
Members have been requested to offer their views/comments/proposals on the Terms of Reference (ToR) so that a comprehensive recommendation is made by the sub-committee to the minister's committee.
THE TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR) INCLUDE:
(i) To study and recommend the prospects of buying/procuring clean seed cotton (phutti) from the farmers/ginners at selected ginneries at a premium if that phutti (seed cotton) is according to the standard/requirement set by the government/Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), and then buy lint cotton ginned from that seed cotton at a premium from that ginnery
(ii) to set standards/conditions for buying clean seed cotton (phutti) from the growers
(iii) to recommend measures to ensure that clean seed cotton is purchased from small growers
(iv) to recommend the amount of premium to be paid to the growers for phutti and the ginners for lint
(v) to recommend the quantity of bales that may be procured during the season
(vi) to recommend the rate at which seed cotton be purchased from the growers and the lint cotton be purchased from the ginners
(vii) to recommend the level of contamination up to which premium will be available for payment both for seed cotton (phutti) as well as for lint cotton, and
(viii) to recommend the number of districts and/or the number of factories in a district from where to buy the clean cotton.
THE 19-MEMBER SUB-COMMITTEE INCLUDES: Textile Industry secretary will be the chairman, while the members would be: TCP chairman, EPB vice-chairman, TCP director (commercial), Punjab agriculture secretary, Sindh agriculture secretary, NWFP agriculture secretary, Balochistan agriculture secretary, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) vice-president, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) chairman, Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) chairman, Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) chairman, Siddiq Akbar Bokhari and Mujeeb Arjumand, growers from Punjab; Syed Nadeem Shah and Syed Sharfuddin Shah, growers from Sindh; Muhammad Aslam, grower from NWFP; grower from Balochistan to be nominated by Secretary Agriculture, Balochistan, and PCSI Joint Director, Karachi.