MINISTRY OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Government of Pakistan
Press Release
Islamabad, February 19, 2015: The 4th meeting of Federal Committee on Cotton (FCC) was
held at the Ministry of Textile Industry to fix the targets for cotton area and production for the
cotton crop season 2015/16. Mr. Amir Marwat, Secretary, Ministry of Textile Industry chaired the
meeting. The meeting was attended by Director General, Federal Seed Certification &
Registration Department, Member (Crop Sciences), Pakistan Agricultural Research Council;
Director General, Agriculture (Ext) Punjab; representative of Crop Reporting Department, Sindh,
Punjab Seed Council, Agricultural Research Institute, DI Khan, Director Research, Director
Marketing & Economic Research from Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, Director Central
Cotton Research Institute Sakrand, representative from Fertilizer Industry, Trading Corporation
of Pakistan; Meteorological Department and progressive farmer.
The Secretary, Ministry of Textile Industry apprised the house about the recent approval of
Textile Policy (2014-19) which emphasis for provision of higher quantity and quality of basic raw
material for producing high value products. He added that the new Textile Policy stress on
achieving goals through sectoral development and cotton is the first step of the strategy. He also
assured the farming community that all efforts will be made for provision of better prices to the
cotton produce.
Dr. Khalid Abdullah, Cotton Commissioner, Ministry of Textile Industry presented the previous
targets and achievements of cotton crop. He thoroughly reviewed the previous cotton situation
and stated that the series of meetings were held with officials from federal, provincial and
private sector seed agencies for provision of certified seed having higher germination
percentage which led to availability of around 45% certified seed last year.
The representative from National Meteorological Department, Islamabad reported that the
forthcoming cotton season will receive normal rainfall. However, low spell of rains are expected
in April in the Punjab province which may result in soil crust problem and farmers must be
educated for delaying of cotton sowing in consultation with Meteorological Department to avoid
seed loss. He further stated that 10-15% more water will be available due to rapid melting of
snow and glaciers due to rise in temperature. Moreover, the representative from Indus River
System Authority (IRSA) also reported no shortage of canal irrigation water during the season.
The representative from Fertilizer Industry also reported that there will be no shortage of urea
fertilizer during the season. He also hoped that due to provision of LNG to Power Plants, the
fertilizer industry would be getting extra gas which will produce much more fertilizer even
available for export. The representative from Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) stated that the
State Bank of Pakistan has set a target of Rs.500 billion for agriculture credit and out of this, the
ZTBL will disburse Rs.90 billion loans for agriculture sector including Rs.15 billion for cotton
sector only.
Dr. Muhammad Ali Talpur, Director Marketing & Economic Research, PCCC stated that as per
projections by International Cotton Advisory Committee, the world area and production may
decrease due to lower prices last year and consumption may increase during coming cotton
season. Therefore, the planning for intervention price may be done in time.

Dr. Shakeel Ahmad Khan, Director General, Federal Seed Certification & Registration
Department assured that much higher quantity of certified seed would be available during
coming cotton crop season and seed companies selling fake seed will be de-registered.
The Committee agreed to fix the overall cotton area and production targets for the year 2015/16
as below:
Punjab
Sindh
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Balochistan
PAKISTAN

Area (Mil. Hectares)

2.428
0.650
0.0005
0.043
3.1215

Production (Mil. Bales)

10.500
4.400
0.00152
0.588
15.48952

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