The boom in the lawn industry could provide a major boost to the agriculture sector in Pakistan but unfortunately, this has yet to happen as cotton growers are unable to cater to the specialised needs of a quality-conscious market.

Since the local cotton harvest cannot meet the qualitative and quantitative requirements for high count lawn yarn, entrepreneurs are being forced to import cotton from different countries.

A high count yarn of 80 singles is required to weave lawn fabric, but the cotton being cultivated in Pakistan is not capable of being spun at this count.

Former president of the Young Entrepreneurs Organisation and owner of a spinning mill, Umer Nazar Shah says that local agriculture could earn a hundred times more by producing cotton for high count yarn. “The lawn business has more than 30 per cent share in value-added textile products. Pakistan is globally considered a country that produces good quality cotton and our cotton growers have the potential to produce cotton for high counts yarn; they just need to be motivated for this kind of specialised cultivation,” he added.

Rehan, a yarn dealer, shared that cotton for weaving lawn was being imported from USA, Russia, India and Egypt. The highest end of the market imports Egyptian cotton, which is of the best quality, while middle level brands buy cotton from the other countries.

He said the prices of lawn could come down by 50 per cent if Pakistan could produce cotton for 80 yarn-counts instead of using Russian, American and Indian varieties. “The agriculture sector is the backbone of Pakistan and improvement and promotion of Pakistani cotton would bring prosperity for the growers and businesses dependent on agriculture as well.”

Akram Sheikh, a yarn broker, says that many well-established mills use imported cotton for their yarn. However, local cotton is also being used to spin low quality lawn fabric. Cotton farmers in Pakistan contribute significantly in production of cotton used for other qualities of yarn including cotton polyester, sateen, percale, jeans, jacquard etc., but not for lawn.” Considering that lawn is one of our leading industries, it is sad that our own cotton is not being utilised in its production.  —Mohammad Saleem