New Delhi: One of Pakistan’s prime exports, cotton, has witnessed a sharp decline in production over the past several years.
According to a report in the Gulf News, the country saw its worst decline in cotton production in 2020-21. Another report in Geo News noted that Pakistan’s cotton stockpiling had sharply reduced by 43 per cent to 3.45 million bales in October last year, raising concerns that the country may have to spend $3 million to import at least 7 million bales of cotton to fulfill domestic demands.
Till October 2020, textile companies in Pakistan bought 2.5 million cotton bales while exporters purchased 17,600 bales (down 58 per cent from 41,960 cotton bales in 2019). Cotton mills, meanwhile, acquired 2.57 million bales last year, which was a decline of 42 per cent from 4.42 million bales in 2019.
To give a picture, total bales of cotton available for processing and export around 25 years ago were close to 24 million. A decade later, this number reduced to nearly 14 million and has since declined consistently.
One of the primary reasons for this decline in cultivation of cotton has been the increased production of sugarcane in Pakistan. Other reasons include low profitability, unavailability of good quality seeds, heat waves, pest attacks and absence of new seed technology.
In January 2020, Khalid Abdullah, cotton commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Pakistan, said work under the PM Emergency Fund for Agriculture was being done to improve cotton production and the crop’s share in the country’s total exports was nearly 64 per cent.
Cotton is grown mainly in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. The country is the fourth largest producer of cotton in the world, and is among the largest exporters globally. Pakistan produces around 10.3 million bales of cotton every year.
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All about Peshawar’s ‘Charlie Chaplin’
Usman Khan, a 28-year-old man from Peshawar city, has been trying to spread cheer amid the Covid-19 pandemic through comedy and a Charlie Chaplin impersonation.
Wearing a bowtie, a bowler hat, donning a ‘toothbrush’ moustache and swinging a cane, Usman roams around the city essaying Chaplin’s character from the movie The Tramp as he teases people for laughs.
Usman, who used to sell children’s toys at a roadside stall earlier, said the idea of impersonating Chaplin came to him after watching some of the actor’s videos. In less than two months, he has gained over 8,00,000 followers on TikTok.
He now hopes that film and television producers notice him. If he becomes wealthy, Usman said, he would share his earnings with the poor. “When I leave my home, I shut the door on my own problems and look to bring happiness to others,” he has been quoted as saying.
Search for mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara continues
A search mission to locate Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara, 45, along with two other climbers — John Snorri, 47, of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr, 33, from Chile — continues. The three climbers have been missing since 5 February when they lost contact with the the K2 base camp in Pakistan’s Karakoram Range.
A statement posted by British-American climber Vanessa O’Brien, who is also Pakistan’s Goodwill Ambassador, and by the K2 Virtual and Physical Base Camp Sunday said a press conference would be held Monday (15 February) regarding important developments.
The statement noted that this has been an “unprecedented search in the history of mountaineering”.
“We have scrutinised satellite images, used SAR technology, scanned hundreds of pictures, plotted more points, re-read summit plans, and checked testimonials and timings. We engaged specialists who offered their expertise, and with devoted support from Pakistani, Icelandic and Chilean authorities,” it further read.
The statement also said that the search team has found sleeping bags and torn tents but those didn’t belong to the missing climbers.
Update on K2 missing #climbers – Pakistan army keeps base camp open, while expedition staff goes home @john_snorri @ali_sadpara @RandhawaAli @AbdulKhalidPTI @RNAKOfficial @GBPolice1422 @rao_ahmad_khan @gilmour_wendy #k2 #K2winter #K2rescue #Legacy pic.twitter.com/JIm9Zem9Te
— Vanessa O'Brien (@vobonline) February 14, 2021
Sadpara is a celebrated mountaineer and the only Pakistani to have scaled eight peaks exceeding 8,000 metres. He was born in 1976 at a remote village in Skurdu district of the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. In 2016, Sadpara also climbed Nanga Parbat (8,126 meters) without oxygen.
The news of his disappearance has seen various reactions from people. Amal Khan, editor of Arab News, alleged that Sadpara was not Snorri’s fellow expedition partner but acting as his “high-altitude porter” because he could not get any sponsorship.
Amal’s statement has been criticised on Twitter, with people expressing surprise that one of Pakistan’s most acclaimed mountaineers was unable to find a sponsor.
Biggest revelation of today: Ali Sadpara was not John Snorri's fellow expedition partner. He was there as his guide/ high-altitude porter, because he didn't get sponsorship to summit. The country's most celebrated mountaineer didn't get a sponsor in his own country.
— Amal Khan (@amalkhan) February 13, 2021
Sadpara’s son, Sajid, who was also a member of the team, had earlier said, “I’m thankful to everyone organising a search, but it’s unlikely that they are alive by now. So the search should be to recover their bodies.” Sajid gave up the climb after he felt unwell following a leak in his oxygen tank.
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Why so much of space given to a failed country? It is our neighbour, and a security threat given terrorism its biggest export but beyond that they shouldn’t have any mindshare in our lives. Even in cricket there is more joy to see India-Australia, or India-England rivalries.