LAHORE, Oct 3: In view of `successful’ results in a pilot project, the government has launched a programme to produce clean and contamination free cotton in seven cotton growing districts of Punjab this year.
“Some 14 ginning factories have been registered to purchase clean phuti from the growers/suppliers by paying an extra Rs50 per maund compared to the market price. This step has been taken under the instructions of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to motivate the farming community to produce uncontaminated phuti,” said Punjab agriculture minister Arshad Lodhi while talking to mediamen on Tuesday.
He said in spite of producing best cotton in the world, Pakistan suffered a loss of $2 billion annually owing to contamination of its produce.
He said earlier a pilot project was initiated in Rahim Yar Khan and the campaign for producing clean cotton achieved very encouraging results.
He said feasibility of the project was also discussed at the Provincial Development Working Party and was finally approved.
Mr Lodhi said for the purpose of transportation of clean cotton from one place to another, the agriculture department had designed and developed special transport covered with steel so that jute or synthetic bags were not used in shifting process, which was also one of the causes of cotton contamination. The cost of these trolleys would be borne by the ginning factories registered under the programme.
He said the extra Rs50 per maund to be paid to the farmers would be shared equally by the federal and Punjab governments.
He said the districts included Multan, Khanewal, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Vehari and Bahawalnagar. “Under this project some 70,000 bales of clean cotton would be purchased,” Mr Lodhi said.
COOPERATION: Pakistan’s commercial counsellor in Berlin Viqar M Khilji has called for greater interaction between the businessmen of Pakistan and Germany as both the countries have a lot of potential in a number of areas, including the energy sector. Mr Khilji was talking to the LCCI office-bearers on Tuesday.
He said Pakistani businessmen could join hands with their German counterparts in the field of energy to make Pakistani goods competitive in the global market as the country was experiencing extreme shortage of electricity.
He was quite confident that the economic reforms initiated by the government would help make Pakistan a business-friendly country in the true sense of the word.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI president Shahid Hasan Sheikh said Germany accounted for a little over four per cent of Pakistan’s exports and imports.
“Trade between Pakistan and Germany is progressing, but it is still not up to the mark and there is a need to increase the volume of trade that creates a win-win situation for both the countries. German buyers should particularly look into opportunities of importing of drawn or blown glass-in-sheets, hydrogen chloride, cotton (carded or combed) and other textile fibers from Pakistan,” he said.