LAHORE: Sowing of cotton in Balochistan province failed to achieve its target, reveals the data of the provincial crop reporting service.

The report says Balochistan could cultivate only 15 per cent of its target this year as the crop was planted on 119,000 acres against the target of 808,000 acres for the year.

An official of the Balochistan agriculture department says rising cost of production but a fall in the rates of cotton in the local markets pushed the growers away from the crop notwithstanding the efforts made by the department to mobilise them to sow the crop.

The cotton produced in Balochistan districts like Lasbela, Khuzdar and Kharan is ofsuperior quality because of dry and mild weather and substantial sunshine. The virgin land has lower pest pressure and best suited for value-added cotton especiallyorganic cottonor better cotton

The shrinking of acreage in Balochistan coinciding with a drastic fall in cotton production in Sindh province this season has sent a wave of concern among the local textile industry, which is looking towards foreign markets for the purchase of yarn to meet its requirements.

By July 31, 2024 Sindh had produced 47pc less cotton than its last year’s output for the corresponding period. The main reasons behind this fall in the crop yield are being stated as reduced acreage and use of domestic seeds by most of the growers.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2024