ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: The sowing of cotton crop has been completed over an area of 3.037 million hectares exceeding the target of 2.860 million hectares for the year 2003-04.

According to official sources Federal Agriculture Committee (FAC) has set target of 2.86 million hectares for sowing of cotton for the year 2003-04.

The sowing also shown an increase of 15.3 per cent over the last year i.e. 2002-03 when cotton crop was cultivated over an area of 2.633 million hectares.

If farmers perceive better prices than they will put in balanced inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides to get better yield even more than the last year’s production of 10.211 million bales, the sources added.

Though monsoon rains have considerably damaged the standing cotton crop in certain areas of Sindh and Balochistan provinces but it may not create any major negative impact on the overall production and the set target of 10.55 million bale production of the commodity, a senior official of the Minfal claimed.

Supply of irrigation water had affected cotton sowing in Punjab province where cotton sowing has so far been completed over an area of 2.435 million hectares against the target of 2.264 million hectares thus showing an increase of 12.9pc over the last year.

The sowing in Sindh has been completed over an area of 0.556 million hectares showing an increase by 25.8pc over the corresponding period of last year.

In NWFP the cotton was sown over an area of 6,800 acres showing an increase of 183.3pc over the last year.

The certified seed of following 3 newly evolved cotton varieties is distributed among the farmers of D.I. Khan for cultivation and scientists of Central Cotton Research Institute, Multan and Cotton Research Station D.I. Khan trained the farmers of the area for cotton development.

The cotton sowing in Balochistan has been completed over an area of 39,000 hectares thus registering an increase of 25pc over 2002-03 when 31,200 hectares were cultivated thus showing an achievement of 86.6pc over the target of 45,000 hectares for cultivation.—APP