Pakistan : Govt may introduce virus-resistant cotton seeds

Cotton farmers' plight has been worrying the Government for quite some time. Standing crops are affected by major virus attack in many parts of Pakistan. This is one of the reasons why the country failed to meet its cotton yield target this year.
Agricultural scientists of Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) based in Multan and Sakrand, Cotton Research Institute, Faisalabad, National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) and Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB), are jointly conducting exhaustive in-depth research to find out new virus-resistant cotton seed varieties that would help to reduce the wastage of yield by bugs.
When Fibre2fashion asked Muhammad Arshad, Director, Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI), regarding the steps being taken to stop virus attack, he said the Government has given a project to CCRI, NIBGE in Faisalabad and CEMB in Lahore to control virus attacks.
The Director also said that it will take around two to three years for the new virus-resistant cotton seed variety to evolve.
Muhammad Arshad seemed quite optimistic that these new virus-resistant cotton seed varieties will surely help to achieve the annual target yield of 14.1 million tons for the year 2007-08.
Arshad divulged that Government is experimenting with these new cotton seeds in Multan, Khanewal and Faisalabad and they are producing good results. These seeds will also help in improving the production of cotton crops.