One cotton crop has been harvested and disposed of. Another has been partly sown in lower Sindh while it is to be cultivated in the rest of that region. Its sowing is scheduled to commence in upper Sindh and Punjab around the 15 of the next month.

Do conditions augur well for a high yield of the crop that counts for over 60 per cent of Pakistan’s exports and plays a major role in the national economy? There is fear of a serious mishap because some vital factors appear to have been ignored.

In the just ending season, cotton suffered a loss of about one million bales, roughly worth one billion rupees. There seems no realization of the loss in the government circles. They are moving ahead as if no development of any negative consequence had taken place. One marvels at their insensitivity, their ability to function in total isolation from reality.

Preparations for the next crop are in earnest. But it is the same old story. Basic facts appear to be escaping the planners. The target is increase in cultivation area to obtain enhanced output and ensure production of contamination free cotton. It is a question if planners and props suffering from contamination of the past can level fields for the kind of cotton they raise in their visions?

The answer is in the negative because basic problems are left unattended; one hasn’t come across any analyses of factors that caused a short fall of cotton in 2002-03; there has been no investigation of why crop area was reduced last year or why cotton continues to remain contaminated in many cases and how visits by pests and virus can be curtailed if not stopped altogether.

The danger from pests and virus is concrete. Two areas of Punjab, Rajan Pur and Dera Ghazi Khan, were hit by pests. The agriculture department of Punjab plans to control cotton leaf curl virus in Vehari and Sahiwal districts. The best way to ensure against virus and for that matter, pests too is resistant seed.

While genetically strong seed is being continuously produced by research organizations, it is a question if sufficient seed is available at prices within the reach of small farmers. Multiplication of seed is hardly carried out at the required speed and, in any case, genetic seed has limited life span. If the managers of agriculture can ensure that graded resistant seed of varieties that have not superannuated would be available as per requirement, much of their task would be accomplished; that certainty is nowhere in sight.

There is the issue of contamination free cotton. The government’s emphasis is not entirely correctly placed. Cotton is by and large free of contamination in the fields. The problems start after harvesting. Transportation and marketing are the villains.

Nowhere in the world is cotton transported in the manner that is reserved for it in Pakistan. It is clean white in the fields after harvesting and contains no extraneous contamination other than dust; that is unavoidable in the dry and dusty environments of cotton regions. The crop is then loaded on trawlers tied to tractors and taken to markets. On way to the destinations, it gathers every conceivable kind of contamination and looses its original purity.

The heaps of cotton lying along roadsides in cotton regions are often of a greyish hue. Farmers are responsible for this kind of contamination to the extent that they cannot organize transportation that protects the quality of their produce. The cotton that is thus contaminated may be cleaned in ginning but it presents a problem during dyeing. This drawback needs to be removed.

Farmers should be helped out on this score. The planners and managers, particularly provincial governments, would do themselves and the sector a favour if they can find ways and means of protecting the crop from this type of contamination. Unfortunately, the issue is not known to have featured in any deliberations of the authorities that plan and supervise the sector. They should attend to it if they mean business.

There is also emphasis on producing long staple; a determination to produce sufficient quantity of that staple in the next crop has been reportedly expressed by the concerned authorities. That needs to be clarified.

Cotton mostly produced in Pakistan is 30 mille meters long. The extra long staple is 32 mm. That is imported by the textile sector for its needs. It is understood that about 50,000 bales of this staple length are required by the textile sector. Its produce can be ensured if marketing is assured. The answer rests with APTMA as well as the federal government.

The government has set a target of 10.5 million bales for the crop of 2003-04 by extending cultivation area to 2.9 million hectares— about ten per cent more land than last year. One does not know if the target of output would be met. That would be dependent on many other factors. The target of increase in sowing acreage is likely to be met. But the government would have no role in that.

The government certainly had a role in the shrinking of cotton acreage. The sector was thrown in to a total mess following the take-over of the administration by the military in October 1999. This does not absolve the previous political government of the charge of undermining grower’s interest and damaging cotton cultivation by its unsympathetic attitude. Its policies towards small owners were equally lacking in understanding. Growers suffered for three consecutive years and the result was reduction in cotton land.

International factors and prices provided them financially breathing space in the last crop. High prices helped them sell the produce quickly and at profitable rates. This should lead to an expansion of cultivation area. The farmers have been given hope by the fair deal for their crop and should be inclined towards bringing more land under cotton. What the government can do is ensure that their requirements are met on time.

The requirements are quality treated seed, fertilizer at affordable rate, efficient management of water and after harvesting, quality protective transportation and ensuring that farmers are not taken on another ride. A good thing has already happened to them in the form of availability of pesticides at extremely reasonable rates, thanks to the emergence of national companies on the scene. The administration can ensure that the gains of farmers are consolidated, in fact enhanced. That would provide the exchequer more strength than it can hope for from any other source.