Sindh province will produce 30,000 bales of clean and contamination-free cotton during the current crop season. This was decided at a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Provincial Secretary Agriculture, Muhakdumuddin Qadri. The meeting was attended by representatives of TCP, Aptma, Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute, PCGA and Agriculture Extension Department.
It was informed that growers would be paid a premium of Rs50 per maund of seed cotton (Phutti) providing clean cotton to the selected ginning factories.
The Sindh government has 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 Naushehro Feroz; Dada and Raja ginning factories in Khairpur district. A three-member team of TCP, PSCI and Agriculture Extension would be available in each of three selected factories, which certify the quality and cleanliness of seed cotton brought by growers. The premium to the growers would be paid by TCP within a week at the rate of Rs50 per maund.
It may be mentioned that due to contamination of unwanted material in cotton, country was losing millions of dollars every year.
As result, the government has launched a scheme of providing incentives to ginners and growers to motivate them to produce clean and contamination free cotton.
A media awareness campaign is also being launched to disseminate the improved techniques of cotton picking, storage, transportation and ginning among farmers and ginners.