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Cotton sowing begins in lower Sindh
KARACHI, April 13: Cotton sowing has commenced
across lower Sindh in full swing despite the
scarcity of water and the well-nigh
un-availability of good quality seed in the
different cotton producing areas including
Mirpurkhas, Juddoh, Nukot, Tandu-Jan-Muhammad,
Digri and Kot-Ghulam-Muhammad.
Notwithstanding the Federal Agriculture Board (FAB)
production target of 10.72 million bales on an
area of 3.14 million hectares for crop year
2004-05, but it has yet to give the breakup of
acreage for cultivation in the three provinces
including Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.
"Cotton sowing is already late by one month this
year in lower part of Sindh, the main reason for
this delay is the non-availability of sufficient
irrigation water and quality seed, as old Nayab-78
is being available for sowing purpose", said
Qamar-uz-Zaman Shah, President Sindh Chamber of
Agriculture.
He said that the fortnightly water rotation system
is very devastating for cotton crop, as the farmer
would barely be able to get water for even one
week.
"The best sowing time for cotton in lower Sindh is
March 1, to March 15. The delay in sowing could
result in the form of cotton shortage at the end
of the year", Shah apprehended.
"Practically no agriculture department exists in
Sindh, after devolution of old system the field
assistants have been given under the control of
the local government," he lamented.
A faction of the growers are also complaining on
the shortage and non-availability of fertiliser,
including Di-Ammonia Phosphate (DAP) and
Nitro-Phosphate.
Moreover, fertiliser dealers are taking undue
advantage by selling their stocks in the black
market.
All the factors including water shortage, low
quality seed coupled with the non-availability of
fertilisers could become a cause of cotton
reduction in cotton production of around 30 to 40
per cent, a source said.
A grower cum ginner lamented that last year the
dealers had created an artificial shortage of DAP
as a large quantity was smuggled to the North West
Frontier Province (NWFP) from where it entered
into neighboring Afghanistan.
This year around two lakh hectares of land is
expected to be cultivated in Mirpur Khas District,
as compared to one and half-lakh hectares of land
cultivated the previous year.
The News
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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