ISLAMABAD: The Board of Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) on Friday approved a Rs690.65 million budget for 2017-18.

Minister for Commerce and Textile Industry Pervaiz Malik chaired the 85th meeting of the PCCC. Federal Secretary for Textile, and representatives of All

Pakistan Textile Mills (Aptma) and Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) and the provincial governments attended the meeting.

The minister said that cotton is an important cash crop, provides raw material for the local industrial sector and is one of the main sources of exports earning. Mr Malik directed restructuring of PCCC in order to enhance its performance in research and development for uplift of cotton crop.

He also asked for formulating a committee comprising members of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), members of the National Assembly, farmers and other bodies involved in cotton trade and research to formulate a comprehensive policy for research and development of advanced cotton varieties for optimising per-acre crop output.

Commerce minister also directed to remove concerns of the APTMA and formulating business plan in order to make the organisation more efficient.

Meanwhile, Cotton Commissioner Dr Khalid Abdullah informed the meeting that PCCC developed 11 cotton varieties during the last year, whereas 291 experiments were conducted and 68 varieties were tested during the period under review.

The committee tested pesticides at 17 location and organised training courses for cotton farmers on pre- and post-harvest mechanism. He informed the committee that receivables from 166 local textile mills in terms of cotton cess had reached Rs625m, where as recovery of the cotton cess had also declined.

The PCCC was informed that income in terms of cotton cess had also reduced as it was recorded at Rs209.60m in 2016-17 as against the receiving of Rs529.76m of 2013-14.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2017