The country aiming to produce 20 million bales of cotton by the year 2015, and this target is quite achievable, said director central cotton research institute (CCRI).
Talking to APP here on Wednesday, the director CCRI, Muhammad Arshad said the country harvested a record bumper cotton crop of 14.6 million bales in the year 2004-5, while the production target for the current season has been fixed at 14.14 million bales.
The government has recently announced to allow cultivation of BT cotton which has more output potential with less production cost. This measure can also help achieve the ambitious target of 20 million bales, while weather conditions conducive for the cotton crop are also essential to attain the target.
However, given the growth of our textile sector the 20 million bale mark by the year 2015 is not enough, and the country needs to produce more cotton to meet the growing needs of its textile sector, he observed. The mealy bug has to be aggressively attacked and pro-actively contained, otherwise the target will be hard to achieve, said a progressive grower Mian Mahtab.
Director CCRI asserted that the government is sincere in its efforts to achieve the 20 million target, that is why it has planned to upgrade the CCRI with an investment of Rs 393 million in five year period.
He said in developed countries the cotton output per acre is 40 maunds while ours is just 15 to 20 maunds, so our farmers must adopt modern methods of husbandry and mechanised farming to achieve the goal. "The five-year plan was okayed last year and the government provided funds to purchase equipment and chemicals in the first phase to proceed towards the final objective," he added.
He said more funds have been earmarked for construction of the building to house various research labs in the current fiscal budget. The new research facilities at the updated CCRI will include toxicology lab to study pest resistance to pesticides, rearing lab for biological control, and agronomy lab and transfer of technology section to train cotton growers and agricultural officials.
A hostel is also a part of the plan for the stay of the trainees. To a question, he said after completion of the upgradation plan any OIC country interested in the project would evaluate the research facilities at the institute and perhaps contribute funds, if they find the facility up to the mark.
The cotton researcher said the federal government has also sanctioned a plan to recruit 19 science officers to conduct enhanced research work at the institute.