ISLAMABAD (February 19 2004): The Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) is meeting on February 21 in Multan to find out reasons for decline in cotton crop
production this year.

Minister for State for Food and Agriculture Sikandar Bosan will chair the meeting. All the cotton sector stakeholders, including textile millers, ginners, representatives of
Karachi Cotton Association (KCA), Pakistan Cotton Crop Committee (PCCC), and growers will attend the meeting.

The cotton crop remained much below the target and official reports have confirmed 3 percent shortfall in production. The officials claim that floods in monsoon season and
severe pest attacks have changed the situation to keep the output below the target.

The growers and ginners have different views to that of the officials of the Food and Agriculture Ministry. They said that the official estimates for production for the current
year lacked ground realities.

The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) had projected cotton production for 2003-04 at 10.5 million bales. Later, it was revised downward to 10 million bales. The
growers and ginners had contested the official estimates and claimed that the volume of the crop would not exceed 9.5 million bales.

This proved true from the arrival figures released on February 17, which had recorded production as on February 15, at 9.389 million bales. Though the arrival will continue for
another month, but its pace will be much lower.

The ginners and the growers are expecting about 0.2 million bales in the remaining days of the cotton season. They are convinced that the crop volume would be between
9.5 and 9.6 million bales this year.

When contacted Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) Vice Chairman Haji Ibrahim said that the arrival had slowed down drastically and net crop production might
range between 9.5 and 9.6 million bales.

He said that the PCGA had completed its homework and gets first hand information from the fields before fixing its estimates in contrast to the officials, who depend on
paperwork to project the crop.

Bashir Ahmed, a progressive farmer from Multan, said that the crop volume would not meet the official estimates.

He said that the officials of the ministry needed better homework to fix the target at factual level.

Courtesy Business Recorder