The GSP Plus status which became effective on January 1, 2014 has yet to be utilised by the textile sector. The January figures show an insignificant increase in the overall volume of exports, although press reports suggest a significant rise in purchase orders from the EU countries.

However, energy shortage remains a major factor in the industry’s difficulty to quickly meet export orders. Exports may pick up the needed momentum in March-April period.

At a time when Pakistan is about to reap benefits of the GSP plus, the government has not yet taken concomitant measures to induce farmers to produce a larger cotton crop.

One such measure could be a government fixed minimum support price for cotton crop as is done in the case of wheat and sugarcane before the sowing season. This can encourage the growers to sow cotton on a larger area if they find the support price satisfactory. Such a practice was in vogue until over a decade ago but was given up abruptly to move towards the free market under pressure from the textile lobby. And, in the current scenario, this is the most appropriate time to resume this practice.

The sowing season starts this month but many farmers, as in the past seasons, are not much inclined to cultivate cotton on a larger area and would prefer to switch to rice, sugarcane and corn on some of the area simply because these crops offer better returns. In Sukkur division alone, cotton is no more cultivated on one third of the area that had been under cotton cultivation. There, the cotton is now grown on less than 200,000 hectares against 300,000 hectares six years ago. The main factor remains the price and the growers are denied the right price for their produce by the middlemen.

Farmers in Mirpurkhas, Multan and Mianwali prefer rice because its price keeps rising year after year. Total area under cotton had reduced to 2.86 million hectares in 2011-12 from 3.05 million hectares in 2007-08.

According to Cotton Crop Assessment Committee, growers cultivated the crop on 6.70 million acres in the just-ended season, 12pc less than the target of 7.60 million acres. However, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, in its latest review, is optimistic about 15-20pc rise in the area under cotton from the 2014-15 crop season.

On January 24, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile was informed that despite many experiments based on international and national research, the cotton production remains constant at 13 -15 million bales for the last five years. But even 15 million is becoming a difficult target; the output remains between 13-14 million. In 2012-13, the production was 13 million bales against the target of 14.5 million bales.

The production of cotton up to February 15 this year was reported to be 13.242 million bales as against 12.633 million bales in the same period a year ago. The failure to meet higher production estimates is attributed to the damage inflicted by pest attack on cotton crop in southern Sindh and by floods and heavy rains in some cotton growing belts in Punjab. During the last fiscal year, a similar attack by white fly and Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) had adversely affected the production of cotton.

Seed remains a big problem because of its uncertain quality. The country uses 40,000 to 45,000 tonnes of seed annually and interestingly most of them come from over a thousand private companies, mostly unregistered and unregulated. Each year, scientists at government-run laboratories develop new seeds with claims of higher yield and protection from diseases but they hardly reach the farmers. Only 6,000 tonnes of certified seeds are distributed.

Many turn to Bt cotton under the belief that this technology will give them a larger crop and that there will be no pest problem. According to International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), Pakistan is now the fourth-largest user of Bt cotton seeds.

These seeds have been used on about three million acres of land. Most of these seeds are pirated with inadequate strength to fight pests and are illegally sold because Bt cotton has not yet formally been allowed for commercial cultivation. No one knows for sure where the seeds are coming from. Mostly they are smuggled from India. Their cost continues to rise with the passage of time without giving the desired results.

Among several reasons for low yields of cotton crop, one is the high cost of inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides etc. Then, there is shortage of irrigation water. In fact, farmers face multiple risks from sowing stage to marketing of their crops. These include soaring prices of food, transport, essential articles of daily use, ever-growing cost of energy, unfair competition and profiteers domination in the market.