The cotton production target set for the year 2007-08 may not be achieved as the attacks of cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV) and mealy bug few months ago have destroyed the crop (approx. one million bales), sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
The cotton arrival report as on (December 1) (in the ginning factories) clearly indicates a difference of 18 percent. "The cotton arrivals in the same period last year show that they were 8.97 million bales while they are recorded about 7.27 million bales this year", the sources said.
Earlier, the cotton production target was set at 14.2 million bales that was later on reduced to 12.8 million bales. But it is again predicted that it would be less than even 12.8 million bales.
Sources told Business Recorder that the next arrival report of cotton will show more difference than the same period last year. They said the damage of CLCV is about 60-67 percent while mealy bug had done 30-35 percent to the total loss.
The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) and the Ministry of Textile have different opinions about it. According to the Minfal officials, the cotton production will be around 11.8 million bales in 2007-08 whereas the officials of Textile Ministry forecast that it will not be more than 10 million bales.
The shortage of pesticides exactly at the time of the attacks of the mealy bug and the CLCV is the main reason behind this loss. Sources said the government should take a serious notice of these two insects otherwise cotton will lose its position in the national economy.
They said the biological control is the only solution to the CLCV because this virus cannot be destroyed by pesticides' spray alone. There should be produced genetic varieties of cotton that could be CLCV resistant", sources added.