The Pakistan government recently revised downward cotton production as well as area target and fixed it at 14.1 million bales from three million hectares for the next season 2016-17 against 15.49 million bales from 3.11 million hectares estimated for the current season (2015-16). The country has already missed the current season crop production target by around 34 per cent and expected that it will remain at 9 million bales.

The Federal Committee on Cotton (FCC) met with Amir Marwat, Secretary Ministry of Textile Industry to set the targets for cotton area and production for the cotton crop season 2016-17. The committee agreed to fix the overall cotton area and production targets for the year 2016-17 as Punjab will produce 9.5 million bales from 2.31 million hectares, Sindh 4.5 million bales from 0.66 million hectares, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa 0.003 million bales from 0.001 million hectares and Balochistan will produce 0.098 million bales from 0.038 million hectares.

The secretary urged to develop coordinated strategy of stakeholders including the Meteorological Department for organising ‘farmers awareness programs to train farmers and enhance their capacity about cotton crop regarding best management practices.