The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) has requested the Ministry of Water and Power to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to irrigation tube-wells, till arrival of monsoon, for sowing of Kharif crops, especially cotton and paddy.
Dr Masood A Rana, Commissioner, Special Crops, Minfal, told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that there was 20 percent shortage of canal irrigation water for the sowing of current year's kharif crops and there were also reports that Wapda's 6 to 8 hours' electricity load-shedding in the rural areas was delaying the sowing of cotton crop.
In the light of these circumstances, the Minfal has requested the Water and Power Ministry to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to irrigation tube-wells in the 15 major cotton growing districts of Punjab and Sindh, at least till June 30, otherwise economy of the country, which is heavily dependent on cotton crop, would be hit badly.
He said that Agriculture Departments have recommended to the cotton growers to complete sowing of cotton in Sindh province by June 10 and by June 25 in Punjab, to have better yield, for which availability of irrigation waste was necessary.
Dr Rana said that cotton would be sown on 9.13 million acres land, (Punjab 6.32 million acres, Sindh 2.56 million acres, Balochistan 0.25 million acres and NWFP 0.025 million acres), while production target for the 2006-07 crop has been fixed at 13.82 million bales.
Okara, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, T T Singh, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Layya, D G Khan, Jhang, Vehari, Khanewal, Lodharan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahimyar Khan, Rajanpur, Ghotki, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Sanghar are the main cotton growing areas of the country.
He said that the government has assured availability of all the inputs, like certified cotton seed, fertilisers and pesticides etc at the door steps of the growers.
He said that 3.742 million tons urea fertiliser and 0.9994 million tons DAP have been arranged which would be sufficient to meet the requirements of Kharif crop till September 2006. "In addition to local production, 800,000 tons urea fertiliser has also been imported," he added.
He said that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has also approved Minfal's 'Grow More Cotton' campaign, which has been launched from Wednesday.
He said that Zarai Taraqiati Bank has lined up Rs 132 billion for agriculture loans for 2006-07 crops, major portion of which would be given only to small farmers.