LAHORE: The recent rain badly damaged 0.2 million maund wheat, 0.5 million maund chaff and cotton sown on an area of 0.2 million acres, according to a survey by the Pakistan Agri Forum.

Pakistan Agri Forum Chairman Dr Muhammad Ibrahim Mughal expressed these views while talking to APP Sunday.

Mughal said that according to reports received from district presidents of the forum, the storm and rains had affected wheat, chaff, and cotton severely.

He said that the cotton seed which was available in the market for Rs 200 per kg had increased and now it was available at Rs 400 per kg.

He also expressed apprehensions that this year, cotton may not be cultivated on 8 million acres of land in the country because certified seed of cotton was not available to farmers even at the double rate.

— File Photo

KARACHI: The cotton production dropped to 12.845 million bales up to March 15, 2013 as against 14.548 million bales produced in the corresponding period last year.

A shortfall of some 2.434 million bales (20.50 per cent) in cotton production in Punjab pulled down overall cotton production by 11.71 per cent or 1.703 million bales over the last year’s total.

The phutti arrival data was jointly compiled by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association and Karachi Cotton Association.

Last year’s heavy rains and flood damaged standing cotton crop in Punjab resultantly the province harvested only 9.445 million bales so far compared to 11.979 million bales produced in the same period last season.

It was encouraging that cotton production in Sindh managed to recoup after witnessing two successive bad years when the crop suffered heavily due to rains and flood.

The cotton production increased by 29.59 per cent at 3.399 million bales in Sindh as against 2.668 million bales the same period last year.

There is a sudden dip in phutti arrivals during the last fortnight (March 1 to 15) because only 84,414 bales reported to have reached into the ginneries compared to 189,993 bales, a shortfall of 88,470 bales.

A short crop has left spinners and mills in a quandary for procuring the commodity as they have to explore international markets for bridging supply gap to meet their consumption needs.

In total 11.618m bales had been lifted by spinners and mills compared to 12.778 million bales purchased by them in the corresponding period last year. Exporters picked up 328,901 bales as against 999,809 bales in the corresponding period last season.

Nevertheless, slightly higher unsold stocks were being held by ginners at 898,106 bales as against 770,547 bales in the same period last year.

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KARACHI: A huge shortfall of over two million bales in the Punjab is having its toll on the overall raw cotton production in the country which may not exceed 13 million bales as against 14.80 million bales harvested last year.

According to a fortnightly phutti (seed cotton) arrivals figures for Feb 1 to 15, further fall in the phutti arrivals in Punjab was witnessed resulting in a shortfall of 2.210 million bales or 19.27 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

The standing cotton crop in the Punjab was badly damaged by heavy rains at a time when plants were at the flowering stage and this resulted in massive shedding of cotton balls in major cotton growing belts of the province.

The latest arrival figures disclosed that only 9.257 million bales have been harvested up to Feb 15 in Punjab as against 11.46 million bales produced in the same period last year.

Cotton analysts believe that this is a big setback for the country’s economy as cotton crop worth millions of rupees had been lost and in order to meet the shortfall a huge quantity may even have to be imported.

However, cotton crop in Sindh after suffering badly during 2010-11 season due to heavy rains and floods, so far has managed to maintain a higher pace of phutti arrivals where 3.376 million bales have been harvested or an increase of 28.52 per cent over the corresponding period last season.

But higher production of cotton in Sindh could not fill the huge gap of over 2.210 million bales created by short crop of Punjab where the country’s 80 per cent cotton crop is normally produced. Last year Sindh produced 2.625 million bales only.

Consequently, the overall cotton production in the country is presently short by 10.37 per cent or by 1.460 million bales because around 12.633 million bales have been harvested so far as against 14.099 million bales produced during the corresponding period last year.

The dwindling arrival of phutti could well be substantiated by the fact that during out going fortnight (Feb 1 to 15) only 255,088 bales were produced as against 478,906 bales in the corresponding period last year thereby showing a huge shortfall of 224,818 bales in arrival.

Similarly, there is lesser off-take of cotton from spinners who so far purchased around 11.070 million bales as against 12.911 million bales lifted by them in the same period last year.

The unsold stocks of cotton with ginners also stood little higher at 1.288 million bales over the corresponding period last year when they held 1.182 million bales. Around 400 ginning factors are still operating with 367 in the Punjab and 33 in Sindh.

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MUMBAI: Cotton prices in India, the world’s second-largest producer, are expected to rise next week on a likely rise in export demand from neighbouring Bangladesh and Pakistan, after remaining steady this week on buying by state-run agencies.

“Exporters are getting good number of queries from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Both countries are ramping up yarn productions,” said Dhirenbhai Khaitan, a trader based in Rajkot, Gujarat.

Fibre prices in local markets steadied on buying by state-run Cotton Corporation of India, who had already purchased more than 1.3 million bales of 170 kg each from farmers at pre-agreed rates. And traders expect the government to buy additional 7 million bales that could outweigh rising supplies in spot markets.

According to traders, cotton supplies in spot markets across the country have risen to 240,000-250,000 bales per day from 200,000 bales per day earlier this month though overall cotton supplies in spot markets in the current marketing year that begin on Oct. 1 are still 6.2 per cent lower than previous year.

Demand for Indian cotton from Bangladesh and Pakistan are likely to rise as yarn makers in these countries are ramping up production to meet higher import orders from China where textile mills are looking to blend cheaper imported yarn with cotton stocks bought at higher prices to make more competitive end-products.

However, low demand for raw cotton from China, the world’s largest textile maker and biggest buyer of the Indian fibre, could limit the uptrend in the prices.

China has cut down on the fibre’s imports as it is sitting on huge stocks.

Global cotton prices are under pressure as an ongoing economic slowdown in Europe and the United States, has reduced consumer demand for textile products, while cotton output has risen.

In New York, the key March contract on the Intercontinental Exchange was up 0.29 per cent at 76.43 cents per lb at 0930 GMT.

On Tuesday, the most-traded domestic spot Shankar-6 variety closed flat at 33,400 rupees per candy of 356 kg (around 77 cents per lb), data from the Cotton Association of India showed.

Spot market prices are available in the evening.

The January cotton futures contract on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was trading up 0.18 per cent at 16,340 rupees ($300) per bale (about 80 cents per lb) on Wednesday.

Farmers spray pesticide over cotton crop in Faisalabad. – File photo by APP

Thousands of crop-pickers across Pakistan face serious health risks by being exposed to residues of pesticides, research carried out in the rural areas of the country has revealed.

Harmful remains of pesticides have been traced in fruits, vegetables, crops and, indeed, in the entire agricultural Eco-system, making Pakistan one of the few countries in the world where such alarming levels go unnoticed by government authorities. In Pakistan’s case, there is a complete lack of regulation or monitoring on the use of pesticides and their affects on the men and women involved in the filed.

Dr Tahir Anwar, who serves as the Principal Research Officer and in charge at Pakistan Agriculture Research Council’s (PARC) Pesticides Research Institute at the at University of Karachi has been investigating local pesticides and their use. His thesis, titled “Pesticide residues in water, soil, fruits and vegetables in cotton growing areas of Sindh and lower Punjab” was focussed on the soil, water, fruits and vegetable samples obtained from cotton-growing areas of Nawabshah, Bahawalpur and Lodhran districts of southern Punjab.

The author’s survey included people involved in the use of pesticides in the field and covered topics such as pesticide awareness, possible health hazards and handling of the chemicals.

According to the research findings, besides contamination in the crop, the top layers of  soil were also found contaminated. Harmful remains of pesticides were noticed in 87.5 per cent of the fruits, while 28 per cent of the samples exceeded the Maximum Acceptable Concentrate (MAC) for any single pesticide. In addition, all (100 per cent )vegetables were found contaminated and 37 per cent samples were above the MAC. The study also found majority of the water samples contaminated with pesticide residues.

Malpractices and lack of care for the crop-pickers and their families were among the major startling revelations of Dr Anwar’s  study, which highlighted the indiscriminate use of pesticides in Pakistan and their potential threats to livestock and wildlife.

Pesticide classification
Currently, three major groups of pesticides, including Organophosphate, Pyrethroid and Organochlorine are being widely used in Pakistan.  Additionally, 108 types of insecticides, 30 kinds of fungicides, 39 types weedicides and six different types of rodenticides are being used in the agricultural sector of the country.

Despite the widespread use of pesticides, almost 80 per cent of the spray never reaches the plant and is left in the soil and eco-systems, where it remains there for a very long time and then the harmful chemicals move further through wind and water.

Major health hazards
“The use of cough-related medicines was seen to have increased during pesticide spray season in all cotton-growing areas,” Dr Anwar told Dawn.com.

Cotton, being a major cash crop of Pakistan, consumes more than 70 per cent pesticides being used in the country and at least a dozen spray sessions are recorded during a single harvesting season (which starts in September and runs up to November) of cotton.

“When I asked around 100 cotton sprayers about their families, majority of them (at least 60 per cent) said that they were childless,” Dr Anwar revealed, adding that still birth was also observed among women involved in cotton farming.

According to Dr Anwar, the alarming rate of infertility among cotton-farmers and pesticide-sprayers could be down to the fact that even a single molecule of pesticide could disturb hormone levels in the human body.

He said that tiredness, dizziness and headaches were commonly observed among farmers after spray sessions, but recovery was observed following baths or showers.

Dr Anwar stressed the need to record medical histories of all the farmers, especially those involved in spraying pesticides in cotton-growing areas and called for the introduction of government-backed health awareness programs for cotton-growing farmers in order to highlight the precautions and hazards related to the handling, mixing and spraying of pesticides.

Pesticides have also been harming women, who often bring their babies and toddlers to the fields during spraying sessions. Women were also reported to have fainted during spraying sessions and developed skin diseases on their hands. In some cases, women also picked the woody parts of the cotton plants and used it as cooking fuel.

Due to lack of awareness, farmers have also been also using cotton pesticides on other plants, including fruits and vegetables. For instance, okra (also known as lady’s fingers) is biologically close to cotton and is thus affected by similar insects in the field, prompting farmers to use cotton pesticides on the vegetable.

Alarmingly, there is a complete lack of pesticide-residue regulation and monitoring in Pakistan. This leads to several malpractices, including pesticide adulteration as suppliers are known to mix cheap but more dangerous chemicals in sealed pesticide containers via syringes and other methods. Apart from this, banned substance DDT is being smuggled from neighbouring countries, including India, and being used in Pakistan, where it is commonly mixed with other pesticides.

The researcher urged the authorities to monitor pesticide-spraying practices and check for residues on crops, fruits and vegetables by implementing a centralised laboratory system to save the lives of the farming families, who form a vital part of the country and its economy.

South Asian reservoir — File Photo

NEW DELHI: Water levels in India’s main reservoirs were at 57 per cent of capacity in the week to Aug 23, down 12 percentage points from a year ago, reflecting this year’s weak monsoon, government data showed on Friday.

The latest level was equal to the 10-year average for the week. It was six percentage points higher than the previous week, reflecting improvement in the monsoon since the last week of July.

Reservoirs are primarily important for hydropower, which accounts for a quarter of India’s generation capacity, but they are also used during the summer for irrigation if monsoon rains are not enough for planting crops such as cotton.

The reservoirs provide water later in the year to irrigate winter crops such as wheat and rapeseed.

Dr Yusuf Zafar – cotton scientist – has been awarded the ‘Scientist of the Year award 2012′ . The Faisalabad-based scientist played a key role in bringing together the world’s major cotton groups. – File photo

A Pakistan-based scientist has been honoured by the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), the body said in a statement released this week.

Dr Yusuf Zafar, who is the director general agriculture and biotechnology at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was declared ‘Scientist of the Year-2012’ for his pioneering work in the cotton biotechnology sector.

Zafar has over 110 scientific papers (published in national and international journals) to his name. According to ICAC, “in cotton virology his group covers nearly 90 per cent of the global published literature.”

The Faisalabad-based scientist played a key role in bringing together the world’s major cotton groups, including Australia, China, UK and USA, for the purpose of conducting joint research.

Heading the National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering in Faisalabad, Zafar and his team have contributed helped produce nearly 100 M. Phil and 30 Ph. D Pakistan-based students, focussing on various aspects of research and development in cotton. He has, meanwhile, remained in the front line to establish Biosafety Protocols, Plant Breeder Rights, Intellectual Property Rights/Patents and ISO certification in Pakistan.

In 2001, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission awarded him Best Scientist of the Year Award. The President of Pakistan awarded him ‘Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Distinction) in 2004, the highest recognition for a researcher.

In other honours, Zafar has also won the Rockefeller Foundation and UNESCO Research Awards on Agri-Biotechnology, and is member of the USDA Cochran Fellow on Agriculture Biotechnology.

Apart from leading the Faisalabad institute, he is on the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology-ICGEB (Italy), FAO country focal person on agriculture biotechnology and member of the Cotton Policy Committee of the government.

The ‘Scientist of the year -2012’ award was announced by ICAC late Wednesday. ICAC is an intergovernmental body with 54 members and provides services to Common Funds for Commodity (CFC), an organisation of UNCTAD-UN family.

Applications for the award are invited each year by the Washington DC-based institute and the selection committee comprises five anonymous judges outside the ICAC Secretariat.

While overall cotton output increased, production in Sindh suffered badly owing to heavy rains and floods and declined by 1.112 million bales or 29.32 per cent less over the last year. – File photo

KARACHI, May 3: A record cotton harvest of 14.813 million bales has been achieved this season (2011-12), showing a growth of over 26 per cent over previous year when production stood at 11.698 million bales.

Official figures of phutti (seed cotton) arrival up to end season on April 30, 2012 reveal that the flow during last fortnight (April 15 to 30) was also much higher at 143,441 bales as against 90,589 bales recorded in the same period last year.

Though last year’s devastating floods and heavy rains badly damaged standing cotton crops in Sindh, a remarkable high production in the Punjab did not only help cover up the shortfall but also achieve a historic record production.

A fabulous production in cotton achieved by the Punjab this season could well be judged from the fact that around 4.228 million more bales have been harvested by the province.

The province produced 12.132 million bales or 53.49 per cent more cotton this season over last year when production stood at 7.904 million bales only.

Consequently, mammoth growth in cotton production in the Punjab did not only help cover up heavy shortfall in Sindh caused by heavy rains and floods but also enabled the country to register a historic record in production.

As a result of this, the country produced 3.115 million more bales or 26.63 per cent higher over the previous year when total production stood at 11.698 million bales.

However, cotton production in Sindh suffered badly owing to heavy rains and floods of last year and produced 1.112 million bales or 29.32 per cent less over the last year. In total 2.691 million bales were produced this season against 3.793 million bales last season.

Raw cotton exports were also higher this year at 1.101 million bales as against 0.540 million bales last year.

Similarly, spinning mills also purchased higher volume of cotton at 13.435 million bales compared to 10.937 million bales last year.

The unsold stocks lying with ginners are only 277,562 bales as against 219,955 bales held by them last year.

Indian farmers pluck cotton at a field in Badarkha village. Experts say India imposed the ban because cotton exports overshot official estimates and the government felt the need to build up buffer stock. — File photo by AFP

NEW DELHI: India, on Monday, ended recent restrictions on cotton exports, six weeks after partially reversing a ban it had imposed on overseas sales.

India, the world’s second-largest producer of cotton, last month stopped all exports of the crop, saying it wanted to protect supplies for domestic mills.

After outrage from Indian cotton farmers, the government eased the ban just one week later but stipulated that no new export registrations would be made to limit shipments.

Commerce and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma said on Monday that the restrictions had now been waived.

“A decision has been taken to remove suspension of cotton exports registration (and) the registration of cotton exports will be allowed by the government,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

The U-turns over cotton export policy have been seen as one example of the Indian government’s poor decision-making and communication in recent years.

In a major policy reversal late last year, the government unveiled and then withdrew retail sector reforms that would have allowed foreign supermarket chains to open stores in India.

When the cotton export ban was first announced on March 5, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said he knew nothing about it before the announcement.

Experts say India imposed the ban because cotton exports overshot official estimates and the government felt the need to build up buffer stock.

The country has already shipped a record 9.5 million bales in the first five months of 2011-12 marketing year that runs from October to September.

India has so far allowed 11.5 million bales of 170 kg for overseas sale in the current year from Oct. 1. - Reuters photo

NEW DELHI: India will allow cotton exports without any restriction, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said on Monday, lifting a ban imposed last month by the world’s second-biggest producer after record overseas sales raised concerns about domestic supplies.

“A decision has been taken to remove suspension of cotton export registration and fresh registration will be allowed,” Sharma told reporters.

The trade minister also said the export situation will be reviewed on a fortnightly basis.

India has so far allowed 11.5 million bales of 170 kg for overseas sale in the current year from Oct. 1.