Pakistan is likely to miss the cotton production target by 2.4 million bales after the crop was damaged by heavy rains and floods, figures released by the Ministry of Textile Industry showed on Saturday. According to documents obtained by this correspondent, cotton production for 2012-13 had previously been estimated at 14.6 million bales. However, heavy rains and floods had damaged cotton crop in Sindh and Punjab.
Cotton crop is mainly grown in Punjab and Sindh, contributing 70 and 29.5 percent, respectively, to the country's total cotton production. However Textile Ministry's figures are in conflict with cotton production data released by various international bodies, creating confusion among stakeholders.
The Textile Ministry simply multiplied last year's average yields of Sindh (545 kg/ha) and Punjab (746 kg/ha) with the harvested areas to obtain not more than 12.2 million bales. However, Pakistan's crop volume was estimated by International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) at 12.5 million bales while the US Department of Agriculture's monthly report estimated Pakistan's cotton output at 13.4 million bales.
Cotton Commissioner of the Ministry of Textile Industry Dr Khalid Abdullah said that the Ministry would call a meeting of the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee soon. The body is the highest forum mandated to assess the crop volume of the country. Khalid said that recent rains and floods had heavily affected cotton production in Punjab. The province lost over 142,500 acres out of 5,812,000 acres sown this year.
Similarly, standing cotton crop in Sindh had also been "severely damaged" as 92,400 and 62,500 acres had been completely and partially damaged, respectively. It appears that Pakistan lost more than 234,000 acres out of 6,499,000 acres on which cotton was grown this year. The remaining area was 6,264,000 acres which is expected to yield 12.2 million bales of cotton against the estimated target of 14.6 million bales during 2012-13. Last year's soaring cotton prices and unfulfilled farmers' demand of support price intervention in addition to a shortage of irrigation water resulted in eight percent decline in cultivation.
Rains during February and March not only delayed the wheat harvesting, but also made it difficult for farmers to plant cotton early, and previous experience of early sowing had been tagged to low prevalence of Cotton Leaf Curl Disease (CLCV), Dr Khalid maintained.
He maintained that Pakistan was the fourth largest cotton producing country in the world after China, India and the US. Pakistan's share in total world cotton production in 2011-12 was 8.47 percent. Pakistan is the third largest consumer of cotton with around 10 percent of world cotton consumption, third largest yarn producer with 9 percent share, second largest yarn exporter with 26 percent, third largest cloth producer with 7 percent and third largest cloth exporter with 14 percent share in the world.