ISLAMABAD: As the cotton production in the country is experiencing a declining trend over the past few years, the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) is operating without a full-time chief executive and requisite staff.

The cotton committee held its meeting in Islamabad on Thursday and discussed the appointment of a CEO and filling the vacant positions through scientists required to to increase the cotton production in the country.

The cotton research stations at Bahawalpur and Sahiwal were also facing administrative issues, which were discussed at the committee’s meeting chaired by Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhr Imam. The budget of committee for next year was also approved by the committee.

Ministry statistics show that from 1985 to 1992, the country witnessed major breakthrough in cotton production, and at that time, cotton production increased to 12.8 million bales. It was a paradigm shift, in which Punjab produced 11.4m bales while Sindh produced 1.4m bales. In 2017, cotton production was 11.93m bales which fell to 9.861m in 2018 before slightly recovering to 9.451m in 2019.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020