ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Textile Industries recommended to the government on Friday to ban establishment of new sugar mills, especially in cotton growing areas.

The recommendation came at a time when the cotton acreage has shrunk by 22 per cent over the past 10 years because of low yields, according to the textile ministry.

Another major reason for the downward trend in cotton growing is better returns in growing sugarcane because of policy incentives offered by the government for the crop.

The country aims to cultivate cotton on 3.2 million hectares annually — 72pc (2.6m hectares) in Punjab, 27pc (600,000) in Sindh and less than 1pc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Unlike cotton, the government’s support for sugarcane crop has helped increase its cultivation by 14pc.

The price of sugar has also gone up to Rs68 per kg in 2016 from Rs31 in 2005-06. The price of sugar in the domestic market is 80pc higher than the international market.

Moreover, the number of sugar mills went up from 56 in 1995-96 to 84 in 2015-16.

Of them, 45 mills were in Punjab, 32 in Sindh and eight in KP. Almost 70pc of the mills are located in core cotton zones of the country, especially in Punjab.

Analysts say that this unexplained protection and unprecedented expansion of sugar industry was posing a serious threat to cotton and other crops.

The committee, headed by its acting chairman MNA Haji Akram Ansari, appreciated the efforts by the ministry concerned for encouraging cotton growth by using modern techniques and methods.

It, however, recommended that cotton growers and farmers should be given incentives to increase growth.

As per law, the provincial government is empowered to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for installation of a new sugar mill or enhancing the crushing capacity of existing mills.

At the end of the meeting, the committee approved all budgetary proposals relating to the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of the ministry for the next fiscal year.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2017