Top Story
Cotton Markets stable despite Energy Crisis
The continued cuts in the supply of electricity and gas to the cotton mills will result in collapse of cotton industry: PCGA.
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| PakAgriFarming News Week vol. 02 (Cover) |
Last week there was sudden
breakdown of power supply to the cotton mills due to which there were piles of
raw cotton in the stores and the purchase were static. Even in this situation
the price of cotton did not drop and a slight increase was seen in the prices.
Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has warned that if such situation
prolongs there will be worse consequences to the cotton farmers because the
mills will not be able to purchase if energy crisis continues.
In the recent times, the gap of
energy production has only widened and the government is not keen to solve the
problems of the major sector of national economy.
News 02
Urea and DAP sales up by 40% & 35% in 2012
Price incentives helped to keep the sale of urea and DAP at 445,000 and 248,000 tons
According to the National Fertilizer Development Centre the sales of urea and DAP increased by 40% and 35% respectively during month of November, 2012. This rise is seen mainly due to commencement of Rabi season and more demand of fertilizers at the time of sowing. Local fertilizer producers in Karachi also gave price incentives to their customers is also seen a factor in this aspect.
News 03
Production Targets not Met, 219 billion losses
Production of three major crops; wheat, rice and cotton, in Punjab could not meet targets set in 2012.
Chairman Agri Forum of Pakistan told news
reporters that the year 2012 had been worst for agriculture sector in Pakistan
where all major crops could not meet the set goals for production. Hence the
country can face food insecurity because the targets of major and minor crops
were not reached in 2012. Overall the agriculture sector faced 219 billion
rupees loss due to many factors and under production. Production of major crops
from Punjab province was disappointing.
News 04
Made in Pakistan expo in Washington in April’13
Pak-USA mutual trade was more than 6 billion US dollars in 2011.
An expo of ‘Made in Pakistan’ and ‘Made in USA’ will be held in Washington from April 05, 2013. It will be a 04 day expo and Pakistan will participate in both expo and the festival. Music festivals will also be arranged alongside the expo.
News 05
Wheat sown over 16.4 million acres in Punjab
Chickpea is sown over 2.2 million acres across Punjab.
Timely rains in December and the ‘wattar’ condition at time of sowing chickpea in areas of Central Punjab is seen as a positive sign for the good production of chickpea in this season. Farmers are optimistic this year compared to the previous year when the land was moisture deficient and the subsequent dryness caused great loss in chickpea production in the Central and Lower Punjab, however, this time 2, 3 rains in December are very good for the crop. Agriculture department has asked the farmers to take necessary steps to protect their crops from the effects of frost and chill.
News 06
Agriculture sector to get 495 million from MoF
Ministry of Food and security will spend this on different projects.
The aim of this expenditure is to enhance production of agriculture sector and hence reduce the problem of food security in the country. Out of the total of 495 million rupees to be consumed; 177 millions will be spent on agricultural research and different developmental projects, 20 million on hybrid seed production, 155 million on NIGAG program; 70 million on NAPHIS; 25 million for Pak-China Agricultural Project; 25 million on satellite monitoring of the crops; 30 million for national bio-agricultural program and 05 millions for fruits and vegetable seeds and nurseries establishments.
News 07
Textile sector bearing 200 billion annual losses
The exports of value-added products were not achieved in the past 04 years and the law-and-order situation is also a factor in deficit.
In letters written by the ministry of Textile industries to the ministries of water and electric power, petroleum and natural resources; it was highlighted that textile is a major sector of exports of Pakistan, earning billions of dollars besides being the largest job sector in the country. It has been mentioned that the power cuts have caused heavy damages already.
It is to be noted that in the past years, the exports of raw cotton, cotton fibre and low value cotton products have gone up whereas the exports of value-added cotton products. It is not of surprise that due the major cut down in the electric power and gas supplies and the worsening situation of law and order in the country; many of the textile mills have shifted their units to countries like Sri Lanka, Turkey and Bangladesh in the past few years. In the international markets, the competitors are also providing subsidy to exports of cotton products in addition to low price of cotton products. The 05 year textile policy approved by the government has also failed to rescue the downfall of this major sector of economy of Pakistan.
News 08
FFC designs plan for rescue in emergency
The objective of this plan is to save the population in proximity of the FFC factories.
Fauji Fertilizer company is one of the leader in agriculture business in Pakistan and has many factories across Pakistan. The management of FFC has came up with a project titled, “Public awareness program about safety in emergency situations”. In this program they have included comprehensive measures which should be adopted in the time of emergency. The aim of the program is public awareness about the industrial accidents in the populations around FFC factories.
News 09
Pesticides, fertilizer and seed act in Punjab
Law making about the act will be completed soon: Aulakh.
With the 18th amendment in the constitution of Pakistan, ministry of agriculture was transferred to the province and hence it is the duty of provincial ministry to make laws about pesticides and other agricultural products. In this regard, the minister of agriculture Punjab, Ahmad Ali Aulakh said that the work is in progress on the pesticides, fertilizer and seed act in Punjab. The ministry is in contact with all the stakeholders about this kind of law making and it will be completed soon. He was chairing a meeting held at Pakistan Agriculture Research Board (PARB).
News 10
Basmati rice exports decrease by over 50%
Rice importers from gulf are preferring Indian rice over Pakistani basmati rice.
In the past 06 months the exports of rice from Pakistan have reduced by over 50% and the rice exports association has demanded crack down against the hoarders. India was successful in getting 50,000 tons exports order to Qatar, similarly Oman and Abu Dabhi have also not placed any order to Pakistan. The cost of rice production in Pakistan has gone up by 15% due to use of diesel generators due to crisis of gas and electric power supply in Pakistan whereas the price of Indian rice are low and the importers are preferring low price rice from India over Pakistani premium basmati rice. Hence the exports have gone down by 53% in the past six months. The association has also demanded the government and ministry that the new variety, PK-386 be promoted to basmati rice because the 20 years old basmati rice variety is not giving good yields under the changed climatic conditions and that the research on new rice varieties is also needed to bring up new and high yielding rice cultivars.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
