Faisalabad, Pakistan
July 15, 2009
Source:
Pakistan Biotechnology
Information Center (PABIC)
The cultivation of Bt cotton would
start officially from next year, which would revolutionise
agriculture and the textile sector in Pakistan, said Mohammad
Farooq Saeed Khan, Federal Minister for Textile Industry.
Addressing a function to distribute certificates among the
participants of 'Women Workers Training Programme', organised by
the Ministry of Textile Industry, in collaboration with the
International Labour Organisation (ILO), he said that the
textile sector had been facing acute crisis for the last five
years because of failure of the previous government to upgrade
and enable the sector to effectively face the challenges of WTO
and post-quota regime. He said the government has taken steps to
reorganise the sector on modern scientific lines.
"We are looking at the whole textile chain right from raw cotton
to export of value-added garments," he said, and added that
people have started sowing Bt cotton on their own this year.
However, from next year, Bt cotton would be sown officially as
the government has made arrangements with an American firm to
provide quality and certified seeds. This decision would not
only increase cotton production but would also play an
instrumental role in getting rid of rural poverty, he added.
The minister said that Pakistan is the fourth major cotton
producing country in the world. India switched to Bt cotton last
year and doubled its yield, "but we failed to avail of potential
of Bt cotton." He said that cultivation of Bt cotton would also
have positive impact "on our socio-economic condition" by
involving female workers in the national mainstream.
He stressed the need for expeditious value-addition in the
textile chain. Quoting the example of Bangladesh, he said that
it is a non-cotton producing country, yet it is earning more
foreign exchange as compared to Pakistan only because of
value-addition. He said the government would encourage private
sector to undertake measures for value-addition. "We are
implementing a number of projects for training of skilled
manpower with focus on female workers," he said, and added that
special courses have been started for training female workers in
collaboration with international organisations.
Aamir Amin, Export Development Plan Implementation Unit (EDBIU)
Director, underlined importance of skilled manpower and said
that 300 female workers were trained in first phase while
another 50 have been trained during its second phase. Muhammad
Latif, Chairman of Chenab Group of Industries, was also present. |
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