KARACHI, April 22: Cotton sowing has been delayed for one-and-a-half months, partly due to shortage of water in Sindh and incomplete wheat harvests in Punjab.

The Sindh Abadgar Board has expressed apprehensions over the next cotton crop as sowing has already been delayed by one-and-a-half months.

Sindh Abadgar Board Secretary-General Syed Nadim Shah told Dawn on telephone from Hyderabad that in areas, such as Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Jhuddo, only 10 per cent sowing had been done against 100 per cent by this time.

In these areas, sowing normally starts in February. However, in Punjab due to late harvesting of wheat and bumper sugarcane crop, land is still occupied, and is preventing farmers to sow cotton.

Mr. Shah urged the government to fix the support price for cotton at Rs2,000 against Rs1,025 last year and announce the same forthwith to encourage farmers to grow more cotton, which is a cash crop.

He warned the government not to repeat the mistake of late announcing of wheat support price, which created a crisis in the country.

Substantiating his demand, he said that the prices of DAP fertiliser have jumped from Rs1,170 per 50 kg bag to Rs3,000.

This led to a 60 per cent decrease in use of fertilisers which adversely affected the wheat crop.

The abadgar official suggested that farmers should be allowed to cultivate Bt cotton which is being practised in India and other countries.

However, he said that special seeds should be bred in the country as imported Bt seeds do not conform to the local environment. He further demanded subsidy on purchase of

fertilisers, especially DAP and pesticides whose prices have skyrocketed in recent months.

Pakistan is the only country which charges sales tax on fertiliser and pesticides.

He said that between the announcement of the support price and maturity of crops, rates of pesticides and fertiliser increase manifold, which make the support price meaningless for farmers.

He called for evolving early maturity and pest resistant varieties of cotton and wheat and loans to small growers on cheaper rates of three per cent.

He said that the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited provides financing on condition that the earlier loan had been repaid, which is a difficult task for farmers of low means.

He said that cotton production this year remained 18 per cent below the target of 14.140 million bales fixed by the government.

The Sindh production stood at 2.0718 million bales against a target of three million bales.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association Chairman Suhail Haral told Dawn on telephone from Multan that sowing of cotton in Punjab is expected to start from May 10 to 15 as the harvest of wheat is still not complete.

He said as a result of late announcement of the support price mostly at the time of harvesting, farmers are confused and are unable to decide, which crop they should cultivate.

He, however, said that farmers, who have turned to sugarcane crop, were disheartened with extraordinary bumper crop, which failed to give them good price from mills and a surety for consumption of the entire crop.

He said farmers were reluctant to opt for rice in view of current water shortage. They are now turning to cotton once again.