April 11, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1427

MULTAN, April 10: The cotton production target of 13 million bales fixed by the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) is achievable, said Muhammad Islam Gill, director of the Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI), here on Monday.

Talking to APP, he said that so far 12.371 million bales had arrived at ginneries in Punjab and Sindh. He said according to a report of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), 30 cotton factories were operating in both the provinces on April 1 last year, but the number had increased to 70 factories this year.

He said the existing trend showed that cotton was still arriving at the ginning factories and the cotton output target set by the CCAC was quite achievable.

Last year the country had a robust cotton crop whose revised target had been fixed at 15 million bales, although the national production obtained amounted to 14.6 million bales.

In reply to a query about the comparatively low production this year, Mr Gill said that multiple factors had contributed to the decline.

He said apart from less favourable weather conditions this year, the inundation of the standing crop over about 0.3 million acres was the main factor behind the low yield.