MINISTRY OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Government of Pakistan
Press Release
October 15, 2014: First meeting of Cotton Crop Assessment
Committee (CCAC) for the cotton crop season 2014-15 was held
under the chairmanship of Mrs Rukhsana Shah, Secretary,
Ministry of Textile Industry. The meeting was attended by
representatives from Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, Pakistan
Cotton Standards Institute, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association,
Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, Karachi Cotton Association,
Trading Corporation of Pakistan, provincial research and extension
officials, and cotton farmers.
The representative from Crop Reporting Service Department,
Government of the Punjab stated that target for cotton area was
set at 2.428 million hectare during the current season, while
cotton was sown at 2.352 million hectares depicting 3.13 percent
less than the target while it was 6.97 percent more than that of
last year sown area (2.199 million hectares). However, the current
year floods damaged standing cotton at around 86,000 acres and
by reducing flood affected area from the sown area, the actual
cotton area stands at 2.266 million hectares. He further stated
that cotton crop in the province is much better than last year and
CLCuV is also significantly less. The province is expected to
produce around 9.53 million bales of 170 kgs despite damages
due to floods.
The representative from Agriculture Department Sindh stated that
cotton sowing was targeted at 0.650 million hectares while it is
sown on 0.595 million hectares depicting a shortfall of 8.46
percent, while it is 4.75 percent more than the sown area during
last year (0.568 million hectares).
The representative from Agriculture Department, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa stated that cotton crop was sown at an area of 3300
hectares. He stated that the farmers of the area are not much

educated in cotton crop management. He also stated that due to

non-existence of a cotton ginning factory in the province, farmers
are reluctant to grow cotton.
Farmer members from Punjab stressed for intervention of Trading
Corporation of Pakistan at earliest as cotton season is ending
sharply and benefit of intervention price for seed cotton must be
assured for farmers. Moreover, they also demanded to withdraw
recent levy of tax @ 5% on cottonseed cake to lessen the higher
cost of cottonseed cake for feeding animals especially in the
flood-affected areas secondly it will help slight rising cotton price.
The Secretary, Ministry of Textile Industry stressed upon scientists
to check the effects of pesticides in oil and cake produced through
cotton crop by applying number of poisonous sprays. She stated
that since Pakistan is signatory to various international
laws/obligations and we must focus on producing better cotton
which could not only benefit farmers in reducing cost of
production but could also be exported without any objections. The
Secretary also directed to immediately initiate a pilot project for
construction of a cotton ginning factory in Khyber Pakhtonkhwa to
overcome the problem of cotton marketing in the province. She
also assured the farmers that all-out efforts will be made for
timely earliest possible induction of TCP for procuring seedcotton
so that farmers could be benefited from it.
The House unanimously agreed to assess the cotton crop size
during the year 2014-15 as below:
Punjab
:
Sindh
KP
:
Balochistan
PAKISTAN :

9.5380 million bales

:
3.6000 million bales
0.0015 million bales
:
0.4000 million bales
13.5395 million bales

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