ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: Pakistan can raise its output of cotton to 15 million bales depending on its ability, among other measures, to check the onslaught of pests, ensure adequate prices and adequate funds for research.

The ambitious vision was spelled out by Dr Qadir Bux Baloch, Cotton Commissioner in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock in his lecture on cotton economy at a meeting of the Scientists Club.

At present, this seems to be rather a tall order. The year 1991-92 is the year when Pakistan passed into double digit barrier for the first and last time with a harvest of 11.4 million bales. That record remains unbroken after the passage of 11 years.

But Dr Baloch is a strong believer in cotton being the economic lifeline of Pakistan’s economy. The single largest cash crop covering 13pc of cropped area, cotton contributes over 55pc of domestic oil production, provides raw material to 1263 ginning factories and 450 textile mills and, no less notably, accounts for over 60pc of gross export receipts, he pointed out.

Individually, it is a boon for farmers through higher returns in cash. In Balochistan, for example, irri-6 rice earns only Rs30,000 per acre, while cotton can double the yield for the farmers.

He suggested a number of measures to obtain 15 million bales, e.g: Turn rice-growing areas of Balochistan into cotton-producing areas, induce NWFP to expand cotton acreage and, last but not the least, switch from rice to cotton on the right bank of Indus in Sind.

Other milestones on the path to 15 million ton crop include: Education and motivation of farmers to adopt recommended measures, improving the ginning process to minimise lint losses and continuing support price system for safeguarding and maintaining growers’ interest.

Many of these measures are already included in the current cotton policy of the government. The policy also envisages qualitative improvement in cotton through standardization and grading at grass roots level, cotton pricing and marketing based on grade and staple, free trade in cotton, etc.

Realising the role of low quality in low prices fetched by Pakistan cotton from the international market, the provincial governments have already amended the cotton control to eliminate contamination.

A focused effort was made in Rahimyar Khan district to induce farmers to reduce impurities in cotton to the international threshold to 2.5 grams per kg instead of 18-20 grams at present.

All said and done, there still remain many a fly waiting to be culled out of the ointment. One is the gap of 7 maunds in per acre yields. As a sine qua non of a 15 million bale harvest, the yield has to be raised from 19 maunds to 26 maunds.

Sustained growth of cotton production, moreover, is confronted by the problems of high temperature, scant plant population per acre and the pressure of pests, particularly, the cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV). A number of CLCV resistant varieties developed over the past several years have ceased to be resistant.

Here comes the vital role of research which, remarked Dr N.H. Hashmy, Director General, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, is “the only engine of all growth”.

The green revolution based almost exclusively on fertilisers and pesticides has run its course, leaving a myriad of problems in its wake and giving rise to a complex situation for a viable agricultural growth, he pointed out.