COTTON is an important non-food cash crop and a significant source of foreign exchange earning. It accounts for 10.5 percent of the value added in agriculture and about 2.4 percent to GDP.

Pakistan has the potential to become a key player in global cotton and textile markets. But unsuitable picking methods, adulteration of seed cotton with water and foreign matter, mixed seed and mixed grades have reduced the quality of seed cotton.

According to one estimate, the country suffers a loss of $350 million annually due to the contaminated cotton production. The core problem facing the cotton industry has been the absence of a recognized and scientifically devised standardization system. The marketing and pricing system has been based on cotton varieties and weight, which resulted in a variety of grades and staples.

Pakistani garments and bed sheets now have duty-free access to the international markets under WTO scenario that requires the millers to make strenuous efforts to reap maximum benefit from this opportunity. Contamination free cotton is a pre-requisite to achieve steep rise in foreign exchange earnings through value- addition.

Pakistan recognized the need for quality and has introduced a cotton grading system. The objective is to improve the competitiveness of Pakistan’s raw cotton and yarn in order to ensure better returns for cotton growers, ginners, textile mills and the national economy. The newly introduced system includes the grading of seed cotton and the classification of the resulting lint.

The federal government has promulgated the Cotton Standardization Ordinance 2002, to transform the cotton production, marketing and pricing system based on internationally recognized standards and practice. A campaign for last three years has resulted in gradual reduction of contamination in the cotton. The contamination free programme was initially introduced in two districts (Rahim Yar Khan in Punjab and Gothki in Sindh ). Due to success of the programme in these two districts, three more districts including Bahawalpur in Punjab, Sanghar in Sindh and all the areas of Balochistan were added in the programme.

The government is trying to motivate farmers, market intermediaries and cotton ginners through media and extension department for contamination free cotton production and marketing. For contamination free cotton picking at farm level, the following recommendations were widely disseminated through mass media: cotton picking when there is no dew; start from the lower part of the plant; use of cotton cloth by the cotton pickers; seed cotton cleaning before marketing; seed cotton storing at dry place and use of cotton cloth for seed cotton transportation.

In cotton-wheat area of Punjab, 49 per cent of the cotton growers adopted the recommendation “cotton picking when there is no dew”. But only 32.4 per cent of the farmers followed the advice “cotton picking start from the lower part of the plant.. In case of third recommendation “use of cotton cloth by the cotton pickers”, 48 per cent responded positively.

The percentage of farmers who switched over the practice of “seed cotton cleaning before marketing” was very low in the area with only 17 per cent of the farmers doing cleaning, (picking of burs, wings, unopened and effected bolls) before seed cotton marketing. Overall, 99 per cent of the farmers reported that they have started “seed cotton storing at dry places”.

Only about 46 per cent of the farmers reported that they used cotton cloth material for transportation of seed cotton from farm to market. The use of cotton cloth for packing/covering cotton during transportation was relatively higher among small farmers as compared to medium and large farmers. Early destruction and high prices of cotton cloth were the main reasons for low use of cotton cloth.

In case of market intermediaries and ginners, the adoption of recommended practices was lower in the area. The use of cotton cloth for cotton handling during transportation was lower in Lodhran districts as compared to Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts. About 36 per cent of cotton traders store cotton at raised platform.

A large majority (92.9 per cent) of the market intermediaries reported that though the target of contamination free cotton production is not fully achieved, the quality of cotton due to the contamination free cotton picking programme has improved as compared to previous years. Overall, 60.5 percent of the total cotton production was clean this year as compared to last year.

The percentage of clean cotton was lower in Lodhran district as compared to Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts. According to different marketing agencies, late start/entry of contamination free cotton picking campaign in Lodhran district was the main reason for lower percentage of clean cotton.

A majority (53.6 per cent) of the cotton traders were using pallies made from the plastic bags of fertilizer for packing/covering cotton for transportation purposes. The use of plastic pallis was relatively higher in the Lodhran district as compared to Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts. Only one fourth of the marketing agencies used cotton cloth for packing/covering seed cotton during transportation from farm to markets and ginner factories.

The awareness level regarding contamination free cotton production practices should be improved among farmers and marketing agencies. The mass media and agriculture extension department should be used effectively for this purpose. There should be check on market agencies to stop the use of synthetic and jute material for seed cotton transportation.