Karachi, April 27, 2022 (PPI-OT):Member Core Committee of the Pakistan People’s Party Senator Taj Haider in a press statement issued today has urged the Government to fix a reasonable minimum support price for the cotton crop of this Kharif. Senator Taj Haider said that cotton crop was the backbone of our economy, textile industry and exports which provided ample employment opportunities for our peasants and workers at many stages of production cycle.
Our cotton crop which once stood at 14 million bales has been gradually going down and now stands at the dismal level of 6 million bales due to its low profitability and shifting to alternate high water consuming crops. Our textile industry has to import large quantities of cotton which also are becoming uneconomical due to the fall in the rate of Pakistani rupee. A reasonable support price of say Rs. 8000 per maund plus can result in larger cotton crop area and sufficient inputs by the farmers and the crop can go up easily by another 5 million bales.
Pakistan needs to drastically cut down its imports. Import substitution of 5 million bales would save us 5 billion dollars in imports, while just for a loan of 1 billion dollars from IMF, we are being forced to raise fuel prices which shall result in an overall increase in our production costs and will further push up inflation. Senator Taj Haider urged an early announcement in this regard. A late announcement when the crop has already been sown will not result in any increase in the cropping area.
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