Govt Projects Cotton Production at 11.5m bales, Up by 126.6%

The government has projected Cotton production at 11.5m bales from an area of 2.4 million hectares showing a bumper increase of 126.6% in production for 2023-24 over the last year.

A High-Powered Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA),s meeting for Rabi Season (2023-24) is held on 11th October, 2023 under the Chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Kauser Abdulla Malik, Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research at Auditorium, P-Block, Pak Secretariat, Islamabad. Mr. S.M. Tanveer, Minister for Agriculture, Punjab, Mr. Asif Rafiq, Minister for Agriculture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Major General Shahid Nazeer, DG, LIMS attended the meeting.

The Committee reviewed the performance of the Kharif Crops (2023-24) and the Production Plan for Rabi Crops (2023-24). The Committee also discussed the situation of inputs for Rabi Crops (2023-24).

The Committee was informed that Cotton production for 2023-24 is provisional estimated at 11.5 million bales from an area of 2.4 million hectares showing a bumper increase of 126.6% in production over the last year.

Rice production for 2023-24 is provisional estimated at 8.64 million tons from an area of 3.35 million hectares showing an increase of 12.7% and 18% in area and production respectively over the last year.

Mung bean production for 2023-24 is estimated at 143.6 thousand tons from an area of 198 thousand hectares showing a decrease of 9.2% in area however, an increase of 6.4% in production over the last year.

Mash for 2023-24 is estimated at 5.28 thousand tons from an area of 7.36 thousand hectares showing an increase of 12.95% and 24.65% in area and production respectively over the last year.

The Chilies production for 2023-24 is estimated at 1.36 thousand tons from an area of 122.1 thousand hectares showing an increase of 1.4% and 2.3% in area and production respectively over the last year.

The committee has fixed the production target for Rabi (2023-24). The target for Wheat was fixed at 32.12 million tons on an area of 8.9 million hectares. Whereas, the production targets for Gram, Potato, Onion, and Tomato are fixed at 410, 6330, 2494, and 666 thousand tons respectively.Cotton Arrivals Cross 5m Bales, Up 71% YoY Growth

The seed availability for Rabi Crops is also discussed in the house and it is informed.
by DG, FSC&RD that certified seed availability for the Rabi, 2023-24 will remain satisfactory.

For Rabi 2023-24, the IRSA Advisory Committee has anticipated a shortage of water by 15% for Punjab & Sindh during the Rabi season. Provinces are allocated 31.66 MAF of water. Prevailing weather conditions are supportive and the shortage is manageable.

The Metrological Department informed that overall, normal to slightly above normal precipitation is expected in most parts of the country particularly over northwestern regions. However, slightly below-normal rains are likely over the plains of Punjab and Sindh during the month of October. It is also informed that the temperature may remain above normal in most parts of the country

It was informed that to stabilize the food security situation in the country, the Government is trying its level best to facilitate the farmers by providing inputs at affordable prices on one hand and is also making efforts to ensure better prices of their produce to bridge the gap between cost of production and output price in favor of farmers.

In pursuance of the government’s agenda for the promotion of the agriculture sector, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has assigned an annual indicative agricultural credit disbursement target of Rs. 2,250 billion for FY 2023-24 to 47 institutions, which is 26.7% higher than last year’s disbursement of Rs. 1776 billion.

Accordingly, during July-August 2023 (FY 2023-24), the agricultural lending institutions disbursed Rs. 326 billion, which is 14.5% of the overall annual target and 44% higher than the disbursement of Rs. 226 billion made during the same period of last year.

The house also informed that during the upcoming Rabi 2023-24 (November – December 2023) supply of urea and DAP is expected to remain stable.