Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has sharply reacted to the decision of Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) to defer the procurement of cotton through Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) describing it detrimental to farmers and ginners.
Chairman of PCGA Amanullah Qureshi said that Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had announced on the floor of the parliament that the government would procure one million bales of cotton from the ginners on the price to be settled with mutual understanding.
Later, a delegation of PCGA called on the prime minister and apprised him of their grievances. Then Prime Minister asked the Federal Secretary Finance to release the funds for the purchase of one million bales through TCP to stabilise the prices in the market. He said that millions of cotton growers are suffering from huge financial losses due to the monopoly of textile sector.
He added that they were being fleeced by the only buyer, which had made a cartel to keep cotton prices at the lowest ebb. He said that the situation would ruin the growers as well as ginners if government did not ask TCP to procure at least one million bales of cotton..
Although the prime minister had assured ginners of complete co-operation and redressing of their grievances, no practical step had been taken to stabilise the market, he added. He said that minimum support price of cotton was agreed by all stakeholders at Rs 6500/maund and appealed growers not to lend ear to the rumour mongers, who were spreading baseless rumours that cotton sector was sinking.
He vehemently condemned such elements particularly brokers, who were playing key role in pushing the cotton sector downward. He warned the government that farmers might use their right of vote against the present regime if it did not redress their grievances and left them at the mercy of Beoparis & textile millers.
Amanullah further said that banks had stopped the debt-limits of ginners, resultantly they were unable to purchase the raw cotton (phutti) from the growers on cash. He reiterated his demand for the implementation of relief package for the ginners of flood hit areas and remitting mark-up on loans and advances.
He said the government should make arrangements for the purchase of low-quality and grade-III cotton immediately otherwise ginners would be forced to stop the purchase of phutti. He demanded that a national cotton policy be announced with the consent of all stakeholders.
He said that more than 14.8 million bales of cotton were expected during the current season in-spite of this fact that two million bales were destroyed due to floods in Sindh province. PCGA chairman said that farmers had made huge investment to get bumper crop during this season but the government had not appreciated them. He also urged the government to allow export of cotton without any delay and there should be no condition of depositing the surety amount and adopting the complicated procedure.