KARACHI: Sindh farmers have lost nearly half-a-million bales of cotton ever since the monsoon season began and pest attacks intensified following the humid weather.

“Growers in Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Umerkot, Khipro etc have lost nearly 400,000-500,000 bales of cotton in the ongoing month, and whatever crop has survived the downpour is of low quality and will sell at below market rates,” said Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association’s former chairman Dr Jessu Mal Leemani.

“Rains have caused enormous losses to farmers in these districts as there is no concept of crop insurance and the government has yet not announced any financial help for them,” he deplored.

Allah Dino, a cotton grower from Tando Allahyar, told Dawn that the high moisture makes the cotton crop susceptible to pink bollworm attacks. “Pink [bollworm] attacks are very difficult to control and around 70 per cent of cotton crop in Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas has been badly affected,” he said.

The pink bollworm attacks can damage around 20-30pc of the crop and affect lint quality, he added.

The farmers, who have suffered huge losses due to rains, would need government help to control the pest attacks.

Mr Leemani said the “fertilisers and pesticides are extremely costly and farmers lack requisite knowledge on pesticide use and end up wasting their savings.”

He said the government should announce a minimum support price for cotton and ensure farmers have access to quality seeds otherwise the country’s cotton output will continue to fall.

“Cotton crop is the backbone of the country’s rural economy and provides direct and indirect job opportunities to millions of labourers — especially women who are engaged in cotton picking on fields,” he stressed.

Pakistan’s cotton production has fallen from 14 million bales in 2014-15 to 9.17m bales in 2019-20 due to unfavourable weather, low water availability and pest attacks. Also many farmers are switching to other cash crops like sugarcane, rice etc.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2020