Federal government agreed for giving autonomy to PCCC

Federal government decided to give independence to the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) for its restructuring and effective private sector representation.

Federal government agreed for giving autonomy to PCCCThe decision was taken during a high-level meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan here regarding the revival of cotton sector.

the PCCC would consist of senior representatives of the ministries of the National Food Security and Textile, cotton commissioners, provincial secretaries for agriculture, four representatives of textile sector, two representatives of cotton ginners, representatives of cotton traders, two representatives of seed producers, four representatives of farmers, one expert and the chief executive after the restructuring.

The meeting was given a detailed briefing on the current situation of cotton in the country, challenges faced by the cotton sector, problems about the production cost, matters relating to the research institution and seed sector, and a future strategy to save the cotton crop from the challenges of insecticides such as white fly and pink boll worm.

The meeting decided to bring in reforms in the seed sector and make the process of seeds’ approval easy and faster. It also approved the strategy to control the insecticides which hurt the cotton crop.

In order to make the PCCC an effective institution, the government and APTMA reached a complete agreement on the issue of Cotton ensuring the provision of required financial resources to the committee.

The government also decided to establish a Research Endow Fund for the PCCC.

Meeting decided to form a high-level Cotton Technology Steering Committee in order to introduce transgenic technology. An Executive Committee led by the Secretary National Food Security would present its recommendations to the prime minister in this regard.

Meeting decided to establish a committee comprising representatives of the federal and provincial governments for the resolution of issues among the federal and provincial governments pertaining to seeds. The committee was tasked to resolve all matters till March 31.

It was decided in a meeting decided to establish a committee comprising the secretaries of the National Food Security, Finance, Commerce and Textile, and other private sector stakeholders (APTMA, ginners and farmers) for the assessment of indicative cotton price, which would present its recommendations before the start of cotton season 2020.

The representatives of APTMA, Kissan Ittehad, seed sector and other related people expressed their complete satisfaction over the approval for the revival of cotton sector and assured their full support for the efforts done by government.

The prime minister expressed his pleasure over the agreement among all the stakeholders for the restoration of cotton and utilization of the country’s full potential and capacity, saying the revival of cotton would benefit the growers and textile sector, which in turn would bring in economic improvement in the country.

The prime minister said the objective of government’s National Agriculture Emergency Program was to ensure the promotion of technology and enhance productivity by addressing the challenges faced by agriculture sector.