LAHORE: Pakistan’s leading textile, cotton and business stakeholders have urged Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to immediately halt the proposed conversion of a portion of the Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI), Multan, into a gymkhana club, warning that the move could further cripple the country’s already declining cotton sector at a time when national production has plunged from nearly 14 million to around five million bales.

The proposed plan to establish the Multan Gymkhana on around 15 acres of CCRI land has sparked strong opposition from the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), the Pakistan Business Forum (PBF), and the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), all of whom termed the institute a strategic national asset vital for cotton research, agricultural sustainability and the textile economy.

In a letter addressed to the chief minister, Aptma Chairman Kamran Arshad said the CCRI Multan, operating under the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC), was established and funded through cotton cess contributed by the textile industry exclusively for research, seed improvement, pest management and revival of the cotton economy.

He warned that Pakistan was already spending billions of dollars on cotton imports due to the collapse in domestic production, adding that repurposing land meant for research into recreational use would send “an extremely negative signal” to the agriculture and textile sectors.

Aptma pointed out that the federal government had recently approved a policy direction for the establishment of a “Pakistan Cotton Board” aimed at reviving the cotton sector, improving governance and strengthening research institutions. In such circumstances, the association argued, reducing or repurposing research assets would directly contradict the national cotton revival agenda.

The association stressed that cotton remained the backbone of Pakistan’s textile exports and supported millions of farmers, labourers, transporters, ginners and female cotton pickers linked to the value chain. Protecting cotton research institutions, it added, was directly tied to rural employment, poverty alleviation and economic stability.

Separately, PCGA Chairman Sham Lal Manglani said CCRI Multan had served as Pakistan’s premier cotton research institution since 1970 and remained central to the country’s cotton economy. He noted that the institute had developed more than 40 cotton varieties over the past five decades, many of which continued to be cultivated by farmers across the country.

According to the PBF, the Punjab government had originally allotted around 115 acres on Multan-Shujabad Road to the CCRI exclusively for cotton research purposes. Despite financial constraints, the institute had made significant contributions to the agricultural economy through high-yield and climate-resilient cotton varieties.

The PBF highlighted that the recently developed cotton variety “Cyto-547” secured first position in the Punjab-wide cotton trials in 2023, while another variety, “CRIS-682,” received approval for a plant breeder certificate in 2025 and was now being cultivated on nearly 40 per cent of cotton-growing land in Sindh.

Stakeholders also emphasised that CCRI houses Pakistan’s largest cotton gene pool, preserving over 6,200 germplasm accessions collected from 41 countries, which they described as an irreplaceable national resource for future food and economic security.

“The institute’s experimental fields, laboratories and integrated research system are deeply interconnected and cannot simply be shifted elsewhere,” Mr Manglani said, adding that the CCRI had played a key role in the country’s bumper cotton crops during 1991-92, 2004-05 and 2014-15.

The PCGA demanded immediate cancellation of the gymkhana proposal, declaration of CCRI Multan as a “National Agricultural Research Heritage Site,” and a special grant of Rs2 billion for the revival and modernisation of the institute.

The business and textile bodies jointly urged the Punjab government to preserve the entire CCRI land for agricultural research, arguing that strengthening cotton institutions was essential for reviving Pakistan’s agro-economy and reducing dependence on costly cotton imports.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2026