KARACHI, May 10: Pakistan expects a big cotton harvest of more than 15 million bales in the current 2005-06 crop year due to a projected increase in area and higher yields, an official said on Tuesday. Qadir Bux Baloch, cotton commissioner at the agriculture ministry, said better water supply during the sowing season encouraged hopes of higher output, along with an estimated three to four per cent increase in the area under cultivation.
Last year the country planted 3.195 million hectares and harvested 14.8 million bales.
“We expect output per acre would increase to 25 maund compared to last year’s 18 maund,” Mr Baloch told Reuters from Islamabad. One maund is equal to 37.25 kg.
He said a precise estimate of the new harvest would be made in October, but added the harvest would certainly be bigger than last year.
“The crop so far seems better than last year as we started the season with a 25 per cent improved water availability than last year,” he said. “We are expecting a harvest of over 15 million bales.”
Initially the government aimed at 14.6 million bales during the current crop season, but raised its target after better water availability during the sowing period. Mr Baloch added that the government had also ensured supplies of certified seed, fertilizer and pesticides, as well as the timely distribution of loans to farmers.
Farmers in central Punjab report an absence of pests such as the leaf curl virus that ravaged three harvests in four years. “The prospects are very bright for a record harvest in the second year in a row as after many years there is no report of pest attack in any part of the country during the sowing period,” said a cotton grower in Punjab.
“Secondly the returns on cotton are also better than on other crops such as sugarcane and rice.”
Cotton and textiles account for around two thirds of the country’s export earnings and a healthy cotton crop is vital to Pakistan’s economic growth prospects, forecast at 7.5 per cent this year.
Pakistan expects domestic consumption of 13 million bales in the season that will begin in July, in line with recent years. Despite being the world’s fourth-largest cotton producer, Pakistan annually imports around 1.2-1.5 million bales of high-grade cotton to meet growing demand from local textile mills.—Reuters
