India has declared 2014 as the cotton year and has set an ambitious target of producing nearly 40 million bales or 6.74 million tonne of cotton, making it the biggest cotton producing country in the world. India will grow cotton on 28 million acres of land replacing China which is the biggest cotton producing country in the world by now.
On another note, Pakistan had also set an ambitious target of cotton production at 15.1 million bales for 2014-15, but the country is likely to miss it because of its failure to meet the sowing target by 6 percent.Insects’ attacks on the crop will further dwindle any chances to meet the target which is, however, 4 percent more than the previous year.
It is a good omen that 40 percent certified seed has been used by growers this time as compared to 10 percent during 2013-14 season whereas there is also abundant quantity of water available to the growers this time. During the last season, the cotton sowing areas of Punjab and Sindh faced shortage of water and pest attacks, but the threat of attacks by sucking insects is minimal this time.
According to informed sources, cotton will be sowed on 7.72 million acres of land in the country, which is more than the last year. Punjab is expected to produce 10.5 million bales from 6 million acres of sowing area whereas Sindh is likely to produce 4.2 million bales from 1.6 million acres of land. Cotton is sowed at 0.12 million acres of land in Balochistan, expecting 0.4 million bales. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa covered about 74,000 acres of land with likely production of 0.0015 million bales.
Pakistan ruled the cotton trade for many decades all over the world when China emerged as the big player –the biggest cotton producing country as well as the biggest cotton importer country. China had accounted for 36 percent of the world cotton imports in 2012-13. After the emergence of Bangladesh as one of the largest garment producing country, it also entered the arena of big cotton importing countries. Turkey, Indonesia, and Vietnam are also emerging as the prominent cotton importers. However, Pakistan’s cotton exports have shown a declining trend thanks to its consumption in the local market.
In the modern economy, it does not matter what do you produce, but it does matter what do you present. The biggest example of this economic trend is Japan which imports all its raw material from various countries, but sends back finished products made of the same raw material back to the same countries with high price tag attached with the finished products.
Pakistan is blessed with fertile land, hardworking growers and skilled workers. The only need is to tape these resources in a scientific manner.
