Cotton Cultivation is going on across the country with both government and farmers expecting better results than last year.
The Punjab government is aiming for cotton cultivation at 5 million acres across the province with a production target set at 8.2 million bales.
The government has announced the minimum support price of Rs. 8,500 per kg for cotton, an increase of Rs. 2,800 over last year. The Punjab government is also providing Rs. 600 million and Rs. 11 billion in subsidies on cotton seeds and fertilizers respectively. Cotton cultivation is expected to go on till 31st May and the agriculture department looks confident that it will achieve the target.
Last year, the provincial government targeted 4 million acres and was able to achieve 90 percent of the target, although the crop was damaged in some southern districts due to floods.
The cash crop has been recently reclaiming areas lost to other crops in the past like sugarcane due to new better cultivars and high and stable prices due to increased demand.
While the newly introduced triple gene varieties have given new hope and brought old farmers back, these farmers are still confronting a number of old problems. Seed purity constitutes a major issue in achieving high cotton productivity in Cotton as it is far more sensitive to climate indicators (heat), disease, and pests compared to other crops.
Moreover, nearly all the cotton cultivated in Pakistan is genetically engineered. The whole success of this crop, whether it would stand a pink bollworm attack or not and how much yield it will give under high temperatures comes down to the genetic characteristics and if that seed is not pure, no pesticides can ensure crop safety.
According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data, only 40 percent of the seeds triple-gene cotton cultivars introduced by the Center of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB) have provided resilience against pink bollworm and glyphosate herbicides which have tremendously increased cotton’s success rate despite.
Seeds of these and other cotton varieties are being produced in limited amounts by government and private companies but with the increase in demand, scammers have jumped in with the counterfeit seeds to fill the vacuum and exploit farmers.
Farmers are constantly ending up with unapproved varieties, being sold to them through Facebook and other social media platforms, which fail to show any performance in the field” commented a researcher at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. He argued that unless farmers are provided with the approved varieties, farmers will keep failing in achieving their productivity goals.
These fake seeds hurt the farmers financially in the short term, they also damage the reputation of new cultivars in the long run. Switching crops and buying new seeds is a heavy investment for growers and when it pans out badly, it discourages the farming community from growing cotton next year.
While seed purity is an issue in all major crops, the problem is worsened in cotton due to the lack of private-sector investments. Additionally, government institutions failed to anticipate the increased cotton cultivation post-Covid and prepare the resources accordingly.
The government is providing millions of rupees in seed subsidies, but there are not enough pure seeds in the market in the first place. When farmers turn to unofficial channels like social media groups to fill their demand, it proves difficult to verify the purity, and they often get scammed with no failsafe in place.
During every sowing season, the market is bombarded with thousands of maunds of non-certified seeds being sold in the name of leading certified varieties of bags with no tags on them, precisely as you would expect in a high-demand/low-supply scenario with no checks and balances in place. It’s not humanly possible to distinguish between cultivars by simply looking at them.
The government needs to better channel the distribution of approved varieties, especially in remote areas, and invest in producing these seeds on a mass scale partnering with key companies in the private sector. The laws and regulations regarding certified seeds and tags on bags need to be enforced by local administrations.
Awareness should be raised among the farming community about verifying the seed quality and also about buying from safe channels. The unique way of doing so is if the government partners with major e-commerce players, so effective seed distribution can be ensured across the province with little or no local infrastructure present.
Source: Pro Pakistani