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Pakistan:Cotton Control Act to be amended shortly |
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2004-9-3
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Sindh and Punjab Governments are likely to amend the Cotton Control Act in their respective provinces in the next few weeks according to a grading system in the domestic cotton market.
The food and agricultural ministers of the two governments informed that the proposed amendments in the 1966 Act were ready for discussion in the next meetings of the two cabinets, and resolutions in this regard would be passed in the coming assembly sessions.
The federal Pakistan Cotton Standards Institute (PCSI) has asked the two provincial governments to amend the Cotton Control Act in line with the Cotton Standardization Ordinance of 2002.
The PCSI board of directors advised the two provincial governments last year to make it mandatory, through amendments in the act, for ginners to mark every bale of cotton with its grade and staple length to create a grading system in the domestic cotton market.
Meanwhile, an official in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) said the federal government expected the amendment to result in better good marketing of Pakistani cotton in the international market.
“Pakistani raw cotton is offered at a lower price in the international market despite the fine quality of its fibre,” said the official, who asked not to be named.
“It is all because lack of grading and the relatively high presence of non-lint contents” in the cotton, he added. He referred to the CSO (Cotton Standardisation Order) issued by President Pervez Musharraf in October 2002 to the ensure ginning of standardised cotton in the country.
The PCSI pushed the provincial governments to amend the act because it foresees a cotton-marketing crisis this year because of the record production in the world, including Pakistan, said the official.
“The enhanced grading system will definitely have a positive impact on bales quality and marketing,” he added.
The cotton crop in Sindh was expected to surpass the production target for 2004-05 as per the minister of food and agriculture Arif Mustafa Jatoi. The Federal Committee on Agriculture has set the 2004-05 target at 3.14 million hectares and 10.72 million bales. |
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