Chinese seeds to enhance cotton crop yield, says food minister.

ISLAMABAD -- Technological advancement is imperative in order to increase per acre cotton yield in the country, Minister for National Food SecAurity and Research Syed Fakhar Imam said on Saturday.

Talking to a delegation of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), Imam said that his ministry was working on transfer of Chinese seed technology for enhancing crop yield, besides securing funds to reduce cost to make cotton production a profitable business.

The PCGA delegation, led by chairman Sohail Javed, apprised the minister about issues and challenges faced by the local cotton sector and said the declining production was affecting ginning the most.

They added that other issues like piled-up tax refunds, slower buying of cotton by All Pakistan Textile Manufacturers Association, and liquidity crisis hampering the ginning sector adversely during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Imam said the ministry would take up the taxation issue with the Finance Division and leave no stone unturned to get relief for the ginning sector.

NA informed Plant Breeders Act not being implemented properly

He also asked PCGA to send a set of proposals for modernising the ginning sector and upgrade technology to improve the quality of lint produced in Pakistan.

The delegation informed that over 1,300 ginning factories are installed across the cotton belt and these have the ability to gin 14 million bales but due to short production for a few years, only 800 were in operation last year.

It's a seasonal business and that's why most of the ginning factories also have oil extraction units to utilise the cottonseed - a byproduct - and convert into oil and cottonseed cake.

Meanwhile, speaking during the National Assembly session, the minister said the Seed Act and Plant Breeders Act have...