Pakistan’s Senate Standing Committee on Textile has expressed concern over falling cotton production in the country. Senator Mohsin Aziz says, export-oriented cotton crop, 80 per cent of which is being used for the value-added products to be exported, has seen a sharp decline since last year. This should be stopped by taking special measures in this regard. He was speaking while presiding over the committee yesterday.

Aziz said it was because of this, cotton growers were not receiving fair price against their products. And that was the reason why they were diverting to cultivation of other cash crops like maize and sugarcane. He rued the textile industry was crippling due to the non-existence of any solid policy in the textile sector. The committee was informed that last year, cotton production in Punjab witnessed a decline of 43 per cent compared to the preceding year mainly due to unprecedented rains in the area. The committee was also informed that in Punjab, cotton was being cultivated on 430,000 acres land this year as compared to 540,000 acres in 2014. This shows that in the next season the production of cotton would slide further.