Cotton crop hit by rain and pests
By Nasir Jamal
TOWARDS the close of the third week of this month, the
Punjab agriculture minister was reported to have directed
the Extension and Pest Warning Wing officials to be, “alert
and remain present in the fields to have a close watch over
the situation created by the monsoon rains for the cotton
crop”.
He
was quoted as directing the officials to “have close liaison
with the cotton growers to provide them proper guidance and
keep an eye on the stocks of pesticides”. The officials
concerned were told to report to the government if there
were any shortage of pesticides so that, “necessary steps
could be taken to improve the supplies in the market.
But the farmers said it was too late for the minister to
pass on these directions because the damage to the cotton
crop had already been done as a consequence of the pest
attack and the shortage of pesticides to control them. They
said the minister should have “awaken to the situation” at
least a month earlier when the pests began appearing in the
crop.
Last week, the federal and provincial agriculture experts
confessed at a hearing of the National Assembly’s standing
committee on Food, Agriculture and Livestock that the cotton
crop situation in Punjab and Sindh was bleak. But these
experts blamed water shortage which had led to 10 per cent
less sowing in Sindh and shifted it to June from May in
Punjab and - the heavy monsoon rains for the grim situation.
The committee was also told that the late sowing in Punjab
could result in 3-4 maunds less yield per acre this year.
The national average yield per acre is said by the farmers
to be 20 maunds. They claimed that the recent monsoon rains
had damaged 200,000 acres of crop in Punjab, 150,000 acres
in Sindh and 15,000 acres in Balochistan. However, they
said, the flowering of cotton plants in September would
determine the exact size of the crop.
“They (the experts) are lying to hide their inefficiencies
and to shift the entire blame on the rains,” AgriForum
Pakistan chairman Ibrahim Mughal says. Conceding that the
late sowing in Punjab is one factor that could trim down the
yield per acre, he insists that the major damage to the
cotton crop is done by the pest attack.
“The cotton crop has been under severe attack by Meali Bug
for quite a while, but the government has taken no step to
help the farmers control the damage done by it,” he says.
Meali Bug was spotted on the cotton crop for the first time
in Pakistan last year. Nonetheless, it did not cause much
loss to the crop. However, none of the research institutes
could identify it or suggest measures to completely
eliminate it. The insect was sent to England for
identification. “Even after that the government didn’t take
any measure to control its re-occurrence as a consequence of
which the same insect has affected the crop this year
affecting 4-5 times more crop than last year,” says Mughal.
Meali Bug is considered to be a big threat to the cotton
crop because it comes in 3-4 layers, and the insect lays
eggs and hatches them in a natural basket attached to its
body. It multiplies rapidly as eggs are hatched in 6-10
hours.
“The occurrence of Meali Bug has not only curtailed the crop
size, it also has increased the farmers’ production cost,
who are forced to apply 3-4 sprays of insecticides to kill
it and control the damage, by spending Rs1,000 per acre,”
says Mughal.
To add salt to the injury, the two pest complexes – boll
worms and sucking pests, also appeared in early August owing
to humid weather. “These complexes develop in the cotton
crop during September because it last humidity and
fluctuations in (day and night) temperature. But this year
these developed in the early days of August because of
excessive rains. The problem was compounded because of the
shortage of insecticide to control these pests. The farmers
have either not been able to use the insecticide or were
forced to pay a heavy price because of its scarcity in the
market,” Mughal says.
He also says that the government had failed to ensure the
availability of phosphatic fertiliser, which increases
production and creates resistance against pests in the
cotton plants, used at the time of sowing. “The government’s
own statistics show that the use of fertiliser this year was
31 per cent less than last year because of its shortage,” he
says.
Thus, he says, it is absolutely incorrect on the part of the
government to claim that monsoon rains alone are responsible
for the cotton crop’s bleak situation this year. “The
government departments’ inefficiencies, lack of management
skills, inability to guide the farmers as to how to control
Meali Bug and failure to ensure availability of insecticides
used to control the sucking pests and bollworms is
responsible for the current cotton crop situation.”
Cotton and cotton products (textiles) make up for over 60
per cent of Pakistan’s total exports. The expected shortfall
in the cotton target of 13.82 million bales for this year
means that the textile industry, which requires close to 15
million bales, will be forced to depend on import of the
fibre to meet its requirements.
“I don’t know what the size of the crop is going to be at
the end of the day and how much its quality is going to be
affected, but the reports of pest attack and other adverse
factors that may reduce its production are quite disturbing
for the industry.
We have been adding to our capacity for the last five years,
hoping that cotton production will also keep pace with our
increasing needs. When cotton production rose to 14.6
million bales, we were delighted that we wouldn’t have to
import the fibre. But it dropped to 13 million bales last
year, and this year again we hear the disturbing report that
the country would not be able to achieve even the last
year’s size,” a former All Pakistan Textile Mills
Association (Aptma) management committee member who does not
want to give his name, says.
He says the entire industry is of the view that the
government needs to shore up the capacity of its cotton
research institutions in order to make them effective enough
to respond to any challenging situation that may affect the
crop and develop higher yield local cotton seed varieties.
“If it is not done on a war footing, and if the industry has
to look toward sources outside the country for raw material,
we will not be able to compete with major competitors like
China and India in the international markets. If we want to
capitalise on the opportunities offered by the elimination
of textile quota, we shall have to work hard to improve the
size and quality of our cotton,” he says.
The industry is also looking at the situation from another
angle, which is more worrying for them. “As the reports of
possible reduction in the crop size are pouring in, the
cotton prices have already begun rising. We don’t yet know
as to how much extra money we shall have to pay because of
the failure to achieve the target.
The increase in the cotton rates will mean a substantial
rise in our input costs, which would make our textile
exports more expensive and less competitive than China and
India,” says Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association
(PHMA) chairman Shahzad Azam Khan.
“The value added textile sector is already suffering losses
owing to highly competitive international market. We are
selling our products at a loss just to stay in the market
and protect our share. The increase in our cost will put
further burden on the exporters who would not be able to
pass on the additional cost on to their buyers.”
Courtesy: The DAWN
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