LAHORE, Aug 31: The Farmers Associates Pakistan on Wednesday revised the cotton production target downwards to 13 million bales for the current year, claiming that the official target of 15 million bales was “too ambitious and impractical.”
Speaking to journalists after the FAP general-body meeting, its chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed that the revision of the target was based on hard facts which the government was ignoring because of its over-optimism.
He said the crop maturity was around 40 per cent till Aug 30 last year, but this year the case was different. The attack of sucking pests — Thrips, White Fly and Jassid — was three times more now than it was last year and there were clues that Army Worm and Pink Ballworm attack would pick up in September.
Fruit shedding caused by humidity in July and early August had already done too much damage. Similarly, Leaf Curl Virus was more devastating this year, he said, adding all these factors which the government had not considered so far could cut back the production by at least two million bales.
In these circumstances, he said, the FAP thought that the final yield would cut down to 13 million bales.
Mr Qureshi regretted that the government had taken away viability of agriculture business during the last few years.
“The results of the policy are ominous, as the country is importing every thing from India and inflating its food import bill. It would continue rising if the government does not come up with a long-term policy.
“The Indian imports have not eased prices in the local market and the only option with the government is to boost the local production for which it has to check prices of fertilizer, electricity charges and diesel prices,” he said.
As the fertilizer prices were on the rise, he said, the demand and supply gap was rising and giving middlemen a chance to hoard and manipulate price. The urea prices, too, had gone up to Rs550 and the DAP now cost Rs1,200. In India, these prices were half of those figures.
Diesel was being sold here at Rs32 per litre and it was likely to further increase in the next 24 hours. The government was also contemplating raise in electricity prices in September. All these would further dent economic viability of agriculture, he claimed.
Talking about the wheat support price, the FAP chairman said the Agriculture Price Commission had recommended increase in support price from Rs450 per 40kg to Rs500 per 40kg. The government had rejected the summary and chances were that wheat acreage would go further down next year and increase food import bill.
The government, he said, was failing to take long-term view of its actions and was acting under donors’ pressure. Its claim of breaking the begging bowl would fall flat in the next year or two if it failed to grant agriculture its economic viability back.
Mr Qureshi said the government had not raised the indicative price of rice for the last one year. It should raise the price from Rs540 per 40kg to Rs600 per 40kg, he demanded.