Punjab province has achieved 47 percent of its cotton-sowing target so far, over an area which is nine percent less as compared to that covered in last year.
Director Agricultural Information Punjab, Rafiq Akhtar told APP that so far the silver fibre has been cultivated on 2.968 million acre land against the target of 6.326 million acres.
He said that sowing of different varieties will continue till the end of the current month, and expressed hope that the target of 6.326 million will be achieved, as abundant irrigation water is available in the canals, and inputs such as cottonseed and fertiliser are also readily available. Meanwhile, the federal government has fixed cotton production target at 14.14 million bales for the new crop, which is being sown these days in Punjab and Sindh.
Director Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan, Muhammad Arshad, told APP that Punjab is likely to produce 11 million bales while Sindh's output has been fixed at three million bales. The remaining 0.14 million bales are likely to be produced by NWFP and Balochistan.
He said the federal government has fixed cotton sowing target at 8.031 million acres for Pakistan, 6.326 million acres for Punjab and 1.581 million acres for Sindh. He advised farmers to spray weeds standing in the fields with effective weedicides so that the mealy bug pest does not survive to attack the tiny cotton plants.
He recommended the use of hand-spray for the cotton plants so that the pesticide can minutely cover every part of the plant to control the mealy bug, which caused massive damage to the crop last year in some areas.
To a question the director CCRI said that no virus or bug-resistant cottonseed variety has so far been developed. Cotton researchers have recommended several seed varieties with better lint which need comparatively less irrigation, such as CIM-496, 543, 473, MNH-786, NIAB-111 and BH-160.
He said two institutes of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) - National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad and Centre of Excellence for Molecular Biology (CEMB), Lahore - are working on the BT cotton project.
"While NIBGE has developed IRFH-901 the CEMB has evolved CIM-482 BT seed varieties, these are being researched and studied by the federal ministry of environment before final approval for commercial cultivation," he said. BT cotton requires far less pesticide application and is more productive than conventional varieties, he added.
The official production target for the previous cotton crop had been fixed at 12.5 million bales which has almost been achieved, he said, adding that the target of 14.14 million bales for the next crop was not that ambitious as in 2004-05 our production had soared to 14.6 million bales.