Government for increasing cotton production to 21m bales by 2015

* Minister says complete consensus among all the stakeholders regarding signing the MoU with Monsanto

ISLAMABAD: In order to achieve 21 million cotton bales by 2015 and increasing yield per hectare to 1,060 kilogrammes, the government has committed to increase cotton production through introduction of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton.

This was expressed during a meeting among the American Seed Company, Monsanto, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MINFA), Ministry of Textile and other officials here on Thursday at MINFA.

It is imperative to introduce approved varieties of Bt cotton in the country to achieve 21 million cotton bales production. The meeting was informed that currently the cotton production is confronting several problems including lack of seed quality, cost and access to essential inputs, 86 percent farms were less than five hectares, attack of mealy bug, whitefly (vector of the CLCV) and Jassid, water scarcity/improper management, sub-soil water contains, all unapproved Bt cotton were susceptible to CLCV, no resistant germplasm available and lack of technology transfer of Bt.

During a presentation, the meeting was informed that Bt cotton was unofficially introduced in 2002 and at present it occupies around 80 percent area. The participants were informed that the unapproved Bt cotton varieties were grown without refuge strategy and violation of international and national rules and regulations.

The meeting was informed that about 10 Bt Cotton varieties were on test or trial and hopefully it would be approved and applied in the country soon, which would help in increasing cotton production.

Cotton currently contributes 8.2 percent of the value-added in agriculture and about 2 percent to the gross domestic product, 60 percent of exports valuing $9 billion. Area around 3 million hectares has been brought under cotton crop, and average cotton yield (769-kg/ha) much less than Australia (1,982-kg/ha), Syria (1,571-kg/ha), Mexico (1,312-kg/ha), Turkey (1,298-kg/ha), and China (1,119-kg/ha). The meeting was further informed that the cotton production was erratic (average 12 million bales) and its consumption was about 15 million bales in the country.

During discussions the officials of the Ministry of Environment objected the introduction of Bt cotton with a view that it had a negative impact over human and livestock but it was clarified and agreed to go ahead with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Monsanto. The National Bio-safety Committee cleared the objections raised by the Ministry of Environment. They agreed that new research and development process would be initiated soon over introduction of Bt cotton in the country.

Sources told Daily Times that Monsanto offered Bollgard-I technology to Pakistan but the local scientists had already developed the same technology. The government was interested in getting Bollgard-II technology in Bt cotton technology.

Official statement of the ministry revealed that Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal said there is complete consensus among all the stakeholders regarding singing the MoU with Monsanto. The minister appreciated the response of the stakeholders towards facilitating the proposed agreement with the seed company.

“Singing the agreement is in our favor. We need to move ahead with the agreement while taking all the stakeholders on board. The reservations, if any, of the stakeholders shall be taken into consideration and addressed in the agreement with the company so that our interests are safeguarded,” said the minister.

The minister said that cotton production needed to be enhanced to fulfil domestic requirements and increase the per acre yield in the country. He said that there was no option but to go ahead with the agreement, which was the need of the hour. The minister was chairing a meeting to take all the stakeholders on board before striking the deal with the seed company.

Minister for Textile Industry Farooq Khan also attended the meeting. Representatives from the Finance Ministry, Ministry of Environment, government of the Punjab, Growers Association of Pakistan, seed companies, Sindh and Balochistan also attended the meeting.

The MoU is likely to be signed in a month’s time that would be an enormous success for the ministry and the country. All the provincial governments have displayed their total willingness and have already requested the federal government to speed up the process for singing the MoU with Monsanto.