LAHORE: The persisting wheat crisis has begun affecting cotton cultivation in the country, ringing alarm bells in the textile sector.

Cotton sowing has already been delayed due to unexpected drop in temperatures during the months of February and March, postponing wheat ripening and subsequent harvesting, which spares lands for the next crop.

As wheat has not been sold at the official rates of Rs3,900 per 40kg, this has shrunk the farmers’ power to procure seeds, pesticides, fertilisers and other farm inputs for the next crop.

Due to this factor, most of the farmers have not yet started cotton sowing, causing concern in the textile and ginning sectors.

Cotton acreage has already dropped in the coastal cities of Sindh and Punjab’s Bahawalnagar, Sahiwal and Vehari districts etc. Apparently, the growers in these areas did now sow the crop because of low temperatures earlier in the year. This means that cotton cultivation may remain lower than the official target of harvesting over 10 million bales of white lint.

Cotton Ginners Forum chairman Ihsanul Haq urges both the federal and provincial authorities to announce per acre subsidy for wheat growers to enable them to grow cotton by improving their income. Otherwise, he warns, the country will have to import cotton as well as edible oil worth billions of dollars to meet the local shortfall.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2024