ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has missed cotton production target of 14 million bales by about 2.4 million bales because of rains, floods and virus attacks, officials said.

They said cotton production fell short of the target because of last year’s rains, consequent floods and cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV) and white fly attacks.

Dr Khalid Abdullah, federal cotton commissioner, told The News that Pakistan has harvested 11.6 million bales of cotton, which is 0.6 million bales higher than the revised target of 10.98 million bales. Last year, the production stood at 12.7 million bales.

Cotton is an important cash crop and the lifeline of Pakistan’s textile industry. The country has over 400 textile mills, 1000 ginneries and 300 oil expellers. Cotton and cotton products contribute about 10 percent to Pakistan’s GDP and 55 percent to foreign exchange earnings.

As Pakistan’s total cotton requirement is about 15 million bales, the country will have to import about 3.4 million bales.

The commissioner said that cotton production fell by 7.93 percent to 7.78 million bales in Punjab from last year’s 8.4 million bales.

In Sindh, production declined by 10.37 percent to 3.79 million bales from 4.2 million bales last year.

He said CLCV damaged cotton production in Punjab.

Abdullah said domestically produced cotton has the potential to resist CLCV virus, but this characteristic is still not found in American cotton. “We are trying to transfer this characteristic in American cotton.”

He said Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had the potential to produce cotton. “If this potential is exploited, we can significantly increase cotton production.”