World Cotton Day | Pakistan

In Pakistan the cotton sector, which contributes significantly to the economic is unfortunately less focus sector by government. This is painful that being back-bone of country economic as cotton sector are negate during Agriculture policy or emergency program launch earlier this year, this sector as an whole have good support in developed countries on basis knowledge sharing good practices because of support from government to and literate growers, however we are still struggling to have basic awareness related to pest-management, optimum utilization of resource such as fertilizer and water-conservation etc.

During my last three year working on ground I found that small holder farmers are not only struggling for selection of seed also they don’t have basic knowledge about their land. and due to lack of awareness excessive uses of chemical based fertilizer & pesticides depleted soils and threat toward climate change. And the major reason in those area is illiterate farming community, extreme unexpected weather change & low yield.

Thanks to organization who are working with small holder farmers and running sustainable cotton growing programs such as Better Cotton Initiative & organic in different area of Pakistan are blessing for those farmers who don’t have access on latest research that can be beneficial for their land and yield as well. However still those programs are not at a level where major small holder farmers can be covered for knowledge exchange related to crop management pest control etc.

Unfortunately cotton sector is also neglected by real stake-holder i.e. Textile Sector as a whole. Textile Industry need to own these farming community for training and certification program for growing sustainable cotton organic and better cotton to support their end product otherwise textile business would shrink due to global commitment for using more & more sustainable cotton in their fast fashion apparel business.

We do have potential to scale-up sustainable cotton program and self-dependency for ORGANIC cotton but that cannot be fulfill without Textile & Government support,

This is real time to work together as a team and invest to secure future increase income level and have access to good education, well-being of the community and indirect investment to climate resilience.