KCA celebrates World Cotton Day befittingly; highlights challenges

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) celebrated the World Cotton Day befittingly by organizing an event at the Federation House in Karachi on October 7. The global importance of cotton was brought to light on the occasion besides highlighting the challenges faced by the world’s cotton economies. 

The top KCA leaders, Muhammad Atif Shakoor and Rizwan Iqbal Umer in particular, discussed the multiple problems being faced by the cotton community in Pakistan for increasing production and meeting the rising costs of raw material for the local textile industry. 

Atif Shakoor, Chairman, KCA, urged the government to take all steps on war footing basis to increase cotton production, produce quality cotton and avoid imports of cotton to save foreign exchange for the country. 

Rizwan Umer, Senior Vice Chairman, KCA, reckoned that cotton holds a special place in the Pakistan industry. H pledged to make efforts to increase cotton production, improve quality of cotton and safeguard the interest of growers. He also emphasized on playing due role to strengthen the cotton trade and textile industry further. 

Prem Chand, Vice-Chairman, KCA, was of the opinion that various stakeholders like KCA, APTMA and PCGA should jointly take-up the matter with the government to increase cotton production, improve quality of cotton and allow import of cotton seed to achieve the desired results. 

Khawaja M Zubair, ex-officio member of Executive Committee and a former chairman, KCA, felt that in order to increase cotton production in the country, availability of healthy/certified cotton seeds to the farmers should be ensured by the Government. 

He suggested the need to organize a seminar on cotton for highlighting the problems being faced by the cotton trade and the country in the backdrop of drastic decline in cotton production and evolve solutions to overcome the situation for consideration of the government. 

Muhammad Arif Piracha, former member of the KCA Executive Committee, described cotton as an environmentally friendly crop. He advised to make a slogan of cotton that would help to ensure boost marketing of cotton. 

Chandarlal, a member of the KCA’s Brokers Advisory Committee and a licensed cotton broker, urged the KCA to send letters to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Federal Ministers for Commerce and Finance highlighting the importance of cotton in the GDP of the country and inform them that with the increase of cotton production, the trade deficit would be reduced considerably.