ISLAMABAD, Aug 21: Pakistan is facing problems in achieving the 15 million bales target for cotton for 2005-06 due to inclement weather during the sowing season, the unbridled activities of the seed mafia and the supply of fake pesticides to farmers in the cotton-producing areas of southern Punjab and Sindh.

Sources told Dawn here on Sunday that officials of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) were doubtful about getting the revised 15 million bales target this season as more than 10 per cent of the crop had already been destroyed by rains that hit southern Punjab and Sindh in April, May and June.

The rivers also witnessed floods in April and May that damaged cotton crop in southern Punjab. The flood water that stayed in the fields for many days also stunted the normal growth of the crop in its early stages that could badly affect productivity, the sources said.

They said the monsoon season had started at least 20 days earlier as usually it started after July 15 but this year it commenced during the last week of June. Last year, there was normally dry weather during the sowing season and the temperature had also remained higher for many days after the sowing was over.

The sources said rain had caused huge damage to cotton crop in Liya, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Rahim Yar Khan districts.

They said in Punjab cotton had been sown on 8 million acres this year. However, till the middle of July flood had played havoc with 235,000 acres of the crop, while another 35,000 acres were destroyed by rain.

Sources in Minfal said the government had done little to activate the Seed Certification and Registration Department to discourage fake seed companies from operating in the country. As a result, fake seeds were again sold to farmers this season. They said the government did not bring any amendments to its basic seed policy.

Though the government had brought down the rates of pesticides this year, it had failed to accomplish anything when it came to quality control and supplying standard pesticides to the farmers, they said.

The government also failed to properly conduct chemical analysis of the carryover stock of pesticides and dispose of those which had already expired.

They said companies were also not compelled to send their pesticides to formulators for reformulation that was why pests had attacked the crop despite being sprayed a multiple number of times by the farmers.

They said at least two types of pesticides on which the government had imposed a ban were openly supplied to farmers. The government had imposed the ban keeping in view their negative impacts on the crop.

Despite its high claims, the sources said, the government had done nothing to control the Curl Cotton Leaf Virus (CCLV) which was spreading at enormous speed. The CCLV had destroyed 2.19 million acres of cotton crop in 1993 and this time also it could play havoc with the crop.