Cotton growers have urged the government to activate the Trading Corporation of Pakistan to buy cotton at the minimum support price (MSP) amid prices falling up to Rs. 2,000 below the support price of Rs. 8,500 in Punjab and Sindh.
The Federal Government announced the MSP of Rs. 8,500 per 40kg in March for raw cotton (phutti) after being advised by the Textile industry that floods washed off the majority of the last year’s crops and inflicted heavy losses to the farming community and the industry.
The announcement along with Rs. 1,000 per acre subsidy on cotton seeds was aimed to incentivize cotton cultivation which resulted in increasing cotton crop area to 6.9 million acres from 6 million acres in the last season, but cotton prices are falling for the last three weeks and government threats to ginning industry of action have remained futile.
The ginning industry on the other hand blames the hefty 17 per tax on Binola (Dried Cotton Seeds) and notices sent to hundreds of ginning mills that the industry claims even exceed the market value of factories themselves.
Some in the trading community also claim that it is because cotton production is high this year. But last the growers are looking toward the government to either ensure the prices or buy the cotton itself so the farming community can avoid as they are always on the losing end of every market trend.
Source: Pro Pakistani