HYDERABAD, Aug 8: The government will provide Rs50 per maund premium on cotton seed (phutti) to growers on production and supply of clean and standardised cotton to six selected ginning factories of Sindh.
The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held at Karachi under the chairmanship of provincial secretary agriculture Mohkamuddin Qadri. Representatives of Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute (PCSI), Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) and agriculture extension department attended the meeting.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, a spokesman of the directorate of agriculture information, Hyderabad, said that during the current season the province will produce 30,000 bales of clean and contamination-free cotton, having negligible foreign matter contaminants like hessian twines, polythene, polypropylene, human and animal hair, toffee and cigarette wrappers etc. He said that the Sindh government had selected six ginning factories in three districts for production of clean cotton. These factories are: SLD and Pehloo Mal ginning factories in Mirpurkhas, Ali and Star ginning factories in Naushahro Feroze and Dadu and Raja ginning factory in Khairpur district.
He said that a three-member team of TCP, PSCI and agriculture extension department will be available in each of the selected factories, which will certify the quality and cleanliness of cotton seed brought by the growers. The premium will be paid directly to the growers by the TCP within a week at the rate of Rs50 per maund.
The spokesman said that due to the contamination of unwanted material in cotton, country was losing millions of dollars every year. Consequently, the government has launched a scheme of providing incentives to ginners and growers to motivate them to produce clean and contamination-free cotton.
He further said that a media campaign was also being launched to create awareness among farmers and ginners about the improved techniques of cotton picking, storage, transportation and ginning.