MULTAN, June 12: Punjab is still 39 per cent behind its cotton sowing target of six million acres for the Kharif 2002.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, provincial agriculture minister Khursheed Zaman said cotton had been sown on an area of 3.66 million acres by the end of the first week of this month.

“This shows that the cultivated area so far is 60 per cent of the sowing target while the optimum period for cotton sowing will be over by June 15,” he said.

The minister said the cultivated area so far was 11 per cent less than that of the cotton-sown area of 4.1 million acres last year. Water shortage and low phutti price were the main factors behind the growers’ show of disinterest in cotton this year, he said.

He said the growers should sow cotton on as many area as possible because this year prospects for them were very bright due to the estimates of less cotton production in America and China. He said the cotton prices in the international market had gone up by seven cents in recent days from 33 to 40 cents. “There is a possibility that the price will become 49 cents per pound in the future,” he said.

He stressed the need for producing contamination-free cotton in order to secure better price in the world market. Australian cotton was fetching a price 11 per cent more than the Pakistani cotton in the international market only for being contamination-free, he said.

The minister said the government was introducing computerized price chart of the agricultural produce in cities of Lahore, Multan, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Okara, Rawalpindi and Rahim Yar Khan.

It was also encouraging the concept of corporate farming which would promote modern techniques in the agronomic practices. He announced that the official land would be sold out to corporate firms at ‘suitable’ rates. “Our target in this regard will be foreign investors,” he said.

He said the government was considering a relief package for mango growers who suffered losses this year due to windstorm and rain.