LAHORE: The Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) has agreed to a proposal to speed up the process of importing cotton seed varieties for commercial cultivation to revive the crop.
It has also agreed to another proposal for expeditious approval of imported cotton seed varieties, cutting the biosafety and field trial period from about seven years to 12-18 months to boost the crop’s output.
The decisions were made in a meeting on cotton revival chaired by Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain.
The proposals were put forward by Shahzad Ali Malik, CEO of Guard Agricultural Research & Services, and were unanimously accepted. These will now be sent to the prime minister next week for his approval.
Under the existing procedure, a foreign cotton seed variety needs about seven years to clear: one year of biosecurity testing, two years of biosafety trials, one year of company trials, two years of National Coordinated Varietal Trials (NCVT), and a final year for approval. At that pace, Malik told the meeting, a revival would not begin before 2033. The fast-track plan, backed by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, and thePakistan Hi-Tech Hybrid Seed Association(PHHSA), would bring that forward to 2028.
Mr Malik proposed replacing biosecurity screening with a laboratory report on seed-borne diseases, which would reduce the time taken for this stage to 15 days. “Biosafety trials and the NCVT would run simultaneously for one year instead of two, as was done in 2009-10, and final approval would take a month,” he added.
The strategy has two other parts. For imported seed, it calls for the speedy issuance of CIPs and the early finalisation of pest risk analyses (PRAs) with other cotton-growing countries. Besides open-pollinated varieties from different countries, it proposes acquiring hybrid technology from China.
Regarding local seed, it seeks to strengthen public-sector cotton research by acquiring exotic germplasm, giving breeders incentives, and setting performance targets and accountability for scientists. It also proposes giving private seed companies access to public-sector germplasm.
The meeting also asked that a meeting of the regulatory bodies concerned be convened as a priority. They include the National Seed Development and Regulatory Authority, the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department, the National Biosafety Centre, the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, and the seed councils and agriculture departments of Punjab and Sindh.
Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2026
