Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Gohar Ejaz has urged the federal minister for food and agriculture to hold regular monthly meetings of the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) for better decision making under prevailing situation concerning cotton. He said Aptma was ready to host the first meeting of the committee.
In a letter to the minister for food and agriculture, Gohar said the textile industry was seriously concerned due to the volatility and uncertainty of cotton prices. He said the estimates of cotton production this season is ranging from 11 million bales to 15 million bales. It is now being talked about that two million bales of cotton have been affected due to floods, likely to offset the loss due to beneficial rains, temperature and certified BT cotton.
He added that the MINFA/PCCC used to hold regular monthly meetings of the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee, rotating venues of the meetings to major stations including Lahore, Karachi, Multan and Islamabad. All stakeholders including officials of agriculture ministry and provincial departments attended the meeting. However, the frequency of Cotton Crop Assessment Committee meetings has been reduced considerably with too little participation by the stakeholders and there is an urgent need to revive the committee at the earliest.