January 23, 2017
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said country is set to miss the cotton output target.
It will be difficult to achieve target of 2.5 percent increase in ginned cotton output and 3.5 percent agricultural growth which will hit whole economy, he added.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that government had fixed a target of 14.1 million bales for the current year but production will not surpass 10.5 million tonnes due to lack on interest by many growers.
He said that many growers have started preferring sugarcane and maize over cotton resulting in production of 71 million tonnes of sugarcane against the target of 67.5 million tonnes.
Similarly, he said, the production of maize has been estimated to be three to four hundred thousand tonnes in excess as compare to the last year.
The veteran business leader said that rice production has taken a hit by 2.5 percent while production will remain 26 million tonnes due to increased area under cultivation and provision of loans to the planters.
He said that surplus wheat will remain a problem for the government as it has failed to export it which translates into losses of billions per annum.
Government should intervene to reduce area under cultivation for the wheat crop, he demanded.
