February 2007
Feb 21, Business Recorder	Country to be able to get 13m bales cotton output target Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Sikandar Hayat Bosan has expressed the hope that country will be able to achieve the production target of 13 million bales of cotton. He said the cotton cannot be imported through land route due to some technical problems but it can be imported through sea route.
Feb 20, The News	Cabinet okay draft bill for GM crops The federal cabinet has approved in principle the draft bill of Plant Breeders Rights to meet the WTO obligation and protect genetically modified crops (GM crops). The farmers will be entitled to save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce, but they shall not be entitled to sell seed of a variety protected under this bill on commercial basis
Feb 20, The News	Cheap Indian cotton available, but for how long With import of cotton from India restricted to two to three hundred thousand bales a year the spinners lose only Rs900 per bale that is less than the cost they bear per bale on larger imports from central Asia and the US. Chairman Pakistan Kissan Forum Ibrahim Mughal said it is high time that the introduction of BT cotton in Pakistan as the Indians did where more than 40 per cent of the cotton sown from bio-technically modified seed.
Feb19, Business Recorder	Cotton output to increase to 20.70 million bales by 2015 The government is taking affective measures to increase cotton production in the country and enhance crop's yield to 20.70 million bales by the year 2015, said agriculture development commissioner Qadir Bux Baloch.
Feb 19, Business Recorder	Increase in Agri yield vital for food security: study A study of the Planning Commission says that average cotton yield is around 1,867 kg per hectare in Pakistan against world's 1,788 kg per hectare. In China, cotton average yield is around 3,978 kg per hectare while the same in India is only 754 kg per hectare. Cotton lint output has been projected to increase to 17 million bales in 2010; 21.5 million bales in 2015; and 21.5 million bales in 2030 from 14.6 million bales in 2004-05.
Feb 15, Daily Times	MINFAL seeks approval for bio-tech cotton The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) has intensified its efforts to get approval for two varieties of the locally developed bio-tech (Bt) cotton from the Ministry of Environment as the country is expected to officially introduce Bt crops in the country this year, a senior government official told.
Feb 09, The News	Cotton contamination hits textile competitiveness Unnecessary costs are one of the main factors eroding the competitiveness of textiles as only the spinners bear an additional burden of Rs153 billion annually to clean contaminated cotton.
Feb 08, The Nation	Nanotechnology in Agriculture Nanotechnology will have profound effect on several fields by its scientific innovations fields by its scientific innovations and the agriculture is no exception.
Feb 05, The Post	Ban on cotton sowing before April 15 to check whitefly, mealy bug attack To achieve the set target of the cotton production of 20.70 million bales by 2015, the Government along with many other steps, is mucking to impose ban on the cotton sowing before April 15.
Feb 03, The News	World cotton output seen at 25.3m tonnes International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has forecast world cotton production to remain stable at 25.3 million tonnes in 2007-08 whereas world cotton consumption is expected to continue to increase by two per cent to 26.5 million tonnes.
Feb 02, Business Recorder	Cotton prices cling on to earlier levels Clive James, Chairman of International Services for Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application (ISAAA) spoke how nine countries were benefiting by growing BT crops and that Pakistan being the fourth largest cotton producer in the world could join the other countries and boost its cotton production. Kausar Abdullah stated that the government has established biotechnology safety commission to induct BT cotton cultivation in a regular and organized manner by approval of BT varieties before cultivation.
Feb 01, Business Recorder	Five new cotton testing labs to be set up Establishment of five cotton fibre-testing laboratories, to cost Rs 68.862 million, has been approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP). The laboratories would be established one each at Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad and Hyderabad under Phase-II.