Speaking to participants of seminar on Biotech Cotton in Pakistan via satellite link at National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, he said in order to meet the rising demand of local textile industry it is the right time for Pakistan to get latest cotton technologies otherwise economic cost of imports would continue to rise. “Weeds issue in Pakistan cotton crop is a serious inhibitor on attaining better yields and technology like Roundup Ready Flex and Liberty Link, which available commercially can help Pakistan to tackle this issue,” he added.He said low Bt toxin and poor gene expression in Bt cottonseeds could render trouble for Pakistan’s cotton crop. Karachi Cotton Association member Shakeel Ahmad said Dr Forrester had also visited KCA for providing his expert opinions a couple of years ago.
Ahmad said, “Without giving Intellectual Property Rights to the mainstream science international organisations, the use of spurious seeds and other seed varieties in the name of Bt cotton cannot be avoided.
Hundreds of tonnes of fake Bt varieties are available in Sindh and Punjab with the connivance of agriculture and food department, which was damaging the cotton production every year, Ahmad lamented.
The Seed Act and Plant Breeders Rights Act are under consideration in the parliament and hopefully these will be passed soon, Ahmad hoped.
The laboratories test reports indicate local varieties approved for commercialisation fall well below the optimum standard of 1.8 ug microgramme per gram of fresh weight, he added.
Pakistan spends about more than Rs 10 billion on import of various kinds of pesticides and about 75 percent of them are used in cotton.
“The government wants the company to install its gems in local seed but the company is interested in bringing Hybrid Cotton technology of Indian origin.” This issue is highly important and should be resolved, Ahmad added.
The officials said that they wanted Monsanto to work together with local cotton institutions for increasing cotton production in the country on the basis of public-private partnership.
Monsanto has offered its hi-tech Bollguard-II for enhancing cotton output and to meet local demand of the commodity. The government of Pakistan and Monsanto signed a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2010 with hope that the country could be able to get the state-of-the-art technology and establish sustainable cotton cultivation and yields. He said from 2004-05 till last cotton production in 2006-09, the projected targets for cotton yields were not being met due to continuing crop losses and poor government policies.
Ministry of Food and Agriculture Additional Secretary Shahid Hussain Raja said the government was trying very hard to improve the IPRs and improve the legal framework so that private sector feels comfortable in investing in Pakistan’s agriculture sector.
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Director General Dr Yousaf Zafar described the development and efforts which have been made so far to improve cotton seed verities, but wanted more efforts to seek collaboration from Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta and other companies for achieving the desired results for biotechnology in Pakistan.
