ISLAMABAD, Jul 25: The cultivation of cotton crop in the country has witnessed about 6.9% increase during crop season 2022-23 as compared to the corresponding period of the last year, a senior official of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research told WealthPK.

According to the initial estimate, Punjab province has achieved about 81.5 percent of the sowing targets for current season as it completed cotton cultivation over 1.485 million hectares as against the set targets of 1.821 million hectares the last year. Cotton Commissioner Dr. Khalid Abdullah said the cotton sowing in Punjab witnessed about 16 percent growth during the current season as compared to that of the last season.

In Sindh, which is another largest cotton producing province of the country, 80.5 percent of the sowing targets were achieved as crop was cultivated over 0.515 million hectares as against the set targets of 0.640 million hectares during the last year, the commissioner said.

Overall, the sowing target was achieved by 81.3 percent as cultivation completed over 2 million hectares as against the set targets of 2.461 million hectares across country, as compared to 1.187 million hectares during the last season. However, crop sowing remained below target fixed for current season as cotton was cultivated over 2.00 million hectares as compared to set targets of 2.461 million hectares for the current season.

It is worth mentioning here that export of raw cotton from the country during fiscal year 2022 witnessed about 714.94 percent increase as 2,752 metric tons of cotton valuing $6.577 million was exported as compared to 594 metric tons during the same period the last year. During the period under review, cotton yarn valuing 1.206 billion was also exported as against the exports of $1.016 billion during the same period the last year.

Credits: INP-WealthPk