Sources revealed to Business Recorder that the committee will present its recommendations in the upcoming federal cabinet meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. According to documents available with Business Recorder, the PCCC is financed through a cotton cess which is levied presently @ Rs 50 per bale. It has established cotton research institutes in Multan and Sakrand while seven research stations are located in all provinces.
The PCCC achieved very positive results during the period up to 1990, but in the recent past due to various factors, outside its control, the PCCC has not been able to tackle the issue that led to a virtual stagnation in cotton production.
The textile industry which pays the cotton cess has expressed serious concern over the performance of the PCCC and filed a petition in the court against the cess. It has restricted its contribution to the PCCC budget in 2016-17 through cotton cess from Rs 625 million to Rs 298 million. The PCCC managed the budget through its accumulated savings but these would be exhausted soon if full cotton cess due is not paid during the current year.
The Aziz-led committee recommended that the high-level committee already set up in 2016 to make recommendations for restructuring the PCCC on the basis of a report by M/s AF Ferguson should be asked to complete its work by June 2018.
On the basis of this assurance, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) should be requested to withdraw its petition from the court and pay its cotton cess arrears, which are only 0.15 percent of the gross value of the cotton. The principal aim of this restructuring exercise would be to turn its two main cotton research institutions at Multan and Sakrand into centres of excellence which they had been two decades ago.
The present budget of the PCCC is around Rs 700 million. A major portion of it is being spent on salaries. The number of staff members of the PCCC is 750 and only 20 percent are scientists. Such a staff structure cannot highly impact the research output. A ban on fresh administrative recruitment in the PCCC is, therefore, necessary until the requirements of researchers have been identified and met, the committee recommendations maintained.
Cotton as a subject and the PCCC were under the administrative control of the erstwhile Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Under the 18th Amendment, the ministry was abandoned and the subjects of cotton and PCCC were transferred to the Ministry of Textile Industry. In October 2011, however, Ministry of Food Security and Research was recreated and the administrative control was transferred to the new ministry. The Ministry of Textile Industry protested and submitted a summary emphasizing that cotton production and performance of the textile industry are inter-dependent and the control of PCCC should remain with the Ministry of Textile Industry. The recommendation was approved by the then Prime Minister on November 15, 2011.
As the cotton crisis has deepened in recent years and the performance of the PCCC has come under a sharper focus, the Ministry of National Food Security & Research has proposed in its latest summary dated December 19, 2017 that the administrative control of the PCCC should be transferred back to it as it is responsible for all matters relating to research and extension services of various crops, including cotton.
The summary highlighted that in order to ensure the integrated planning of national cropping pattern and conduct a cohesive research and development programme, it is logical that the major cash crop of Pakistan should also remain in the field of overall agricultural productivity system.
"The recommendations of the committee to strengthen public private partnership in cotton research through increased funding from the public sector and more pro-cotton policies in the overall policy framework, can be implemented more successfully if the administrative control of PCCC is transferred back to the Ministry of National Food Security & Research," the final recommendations maintained.