MULTAN, Feb 15: An amount of Rs17 billion of the cotton growers has been stuck in the market following a cotton crisis created by buyer’s manipulation.

This was stated by Farmers Associates of Pakistan (FAP) Chairman, Multan district Nazim Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi while talking to adviser to chief executive on agriculture Chaudhry Shafi Niazi and provincial agriculture minister Khursheed Zaman Qureshi here on Friday.

The Nazim claimed around 4 million bales of cotton were lying unsold in fields as there was no buyer. He said the minimum fix price of phutti (seed cotton) was Rs780 per 40kg, adding, however, even the fine quality of phutti was being offered not more than Rs680.

He said the growers had to pay dues to the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) despite paucity of buyers and they had been facing financial stringency. The growers in the cotton belt were unable to invest properly in the ongoing wheat crop, he added. ‘This year, he said, the growers had used 20 per cent less fertilizers for the wheat crop as compared to the last year,’ adding ‘the phenomenon would affect per acre yield of wheat.’

Mr Qureshi said the growers over dependence on tubewells for irrigation, in the wake of water shortage in canals, had increased their cost of production.

He stressed the need to revamp agriculture marketing system as it had in present form failed to deliver.

The federal and provincial government functionaries assured the Nazim that they would raise the matter to the concerned fora.

TCP urged: The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association has urged the Trading Corporation of Pakistan to relax its policy regarding procurement of lint cotton only in export packing.

In a press release issued on Friday, the association said the TCP purchase policy was not extending help to ginners and growers as the available stock had been packed in commercial packing because the corporation was not interested to enter the market while the export of raw cotton had not been picking up before the government direction to the TCP to procure one million bales.

Consequently, the ginners packed their product in commercial packing for textile millers. “Most of the unsold stock of 1.9 million bales lying with the ginneries is packed in commercial packing.”

The PCGA said the defunct cotton export corporation was used to lift cotton from ginneries in commercial packing and later on got it repacked in export packing at the godowns of Karachi and Multan. It said the relaxation in packing could only end the present crisis in the cotton market.