The Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) has reduced the estimated cotton target for 2015-16 for the third time to 11.4 million bales, about 25 per cent lower than the earlier estimated 15.49 million bales.

The reasons behind lowered outlook for cotton production are pink bollworm and white fly attacks that massively damaged the crops in regions like Sindh and Punjab, the committee was informed in a meeting attended by representatives of Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, Karachi Cotton Association, Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Pakistan Cotton Standards Institute, and Provincial research and extension officials. The unexpected rainfall also damaged the cotton crops. Farmers were reluctant to use fertilisers and pesticides due to low cotton prices last year, which consequently led to poor crop management this season, the officials told the committee.

The government set the target for 2015/16 at 15.49 million bales from 7.7 million acres. The CCAC scaled down the target for the second time to 13.38 million bales for the current season. The cotton target in Punjab was projected at 10.5 million bales from six million acres but has registered a downfall of 6 per cent and is estimated at just 5.6 million acres. Similar situation prevails in the Sindh region where the produce was projected to be 4.4 million bales from 1.6 million acres. But the crop was sown in just 1.4 million acres resulting in reduced targets by 10 per cent.

The Khyber Pankhtunkhwa and Balochistan regions have also missed their estimated cotton cultivation targets due to pest attacks. Cotton growers feared 50 per cent crop damage due to the cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV) and whitefly attacks in Multan and Khanewal.

Cotton.par.com.pk