Pakistan’s cotton revival moves from research laboratories to fields – seed quality takes center stage

FAISALABAD, Sep 17 (APP)::Pakistan’s cotton revival is increasingly being shaped not merely by the acreage under the crop but by what goes into the soil before the first plant emerges – the quality of seed, genetic potential of varieties, their performance under diverse climates and the speed with which scientific research reaches the farmer.

       At a time when the country’s cotton area has contracted and domestic production remains below earlier levels, the National Seed Development & Regulatory Authority’s (NSDRA) Cotton Travelling Seminar 2026 is taking the search for solutions beyond conference halls into the country’s cotton-growing fields.

           NSDRA Cotton Travelling Seminar 2026, being held from September 15 to 21 across major cotton-growing regions, is taking research and regulation directly to the fields to examine whether Pakistan can build a more productive, resilient and competitive cotton crop from the seed upward.

            A spokesman of Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) Faisalabad said that the nationwide initiative brings together seed regulators, agricultural research institutions, scientists, provincial agriculture departments, seed companies, field experts and growers to examine the performance of new cotton varieties, quality of planting material, pest and disease pressures, production technologies and practical problems confronting farmers.

         The seminar is visiting major research and production centers in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, turning the conventional conference model into a field-based exercise.

         Its participating experts include scientists and officials from the NSDRA, Punjab Agriculture Department, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI), National Institute for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Nuclear Institute for Agriculture & Biology (NIAB) and other research organizations.

         He said that the significance of the exercise becomes clearer against the recent performance of Pakistan’s cotton economy. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26, cotton production stood at a provisional 7.052 million bales, marginally below 7.084 million bales recorded in 2024-25.

         He said that the survey attributed the slight decline mainly to reduced cultivated area as farmers adjusted their cropping choices in response to relative returns and competing Kharif crops.

         The figures also underline why productivity rather than acreage alone has become a central concern. The 2024 Agricultural Census recorded 6.51 million acres under cotton across Pakistan, with about 1.06 million farms reporting cotton cultivation.

           Punjab accounted for 58.89 percent of the country’s cotton area, followed by Sindh with 28.10 percent, Balochistan with 12.95 percent and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 0.05 percent.

    He said that for a country whose textile industry remains closely tied to cotton, the stakes extend far beyond the farm gate. A key feature of the travelling seminar is its focus on National Coordinated Varietal Trials (NCVT), under which promising varieties can be evaluated under different agro-climatic conditions rather than relying on performance at a single location, he added.

     He said that the 2026 trial program includes sites at Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Khanewal, Multan and Khanpur in Punjab; Sakrand and Tandojam in Sindh; and Khuzdar in Balochistan. The comparative field trials are intended to generate evidence on how varieties perform under varying temperature, soil, pest, disease and water conditions, the spokesman added.

        For Pakistan’s cotton sector, the road to sustainable growth cannot simply be measured in acres. Chief Scientist AARI, Dr Sajid-ur-Rehman, says the real challenge lies in producing more from the land already under

cultivation.

          Expanding cotton acreage alone, he stressed, is not enough; lasting growth will depend on raising productivity, improving farming practices and making smarter, more efficient use of the country’s existing agricultural

resources.

        “Quality seed, improved varieties, modern production technology, timely agricultural advice and effective transfer of research findings to farmers are all essential for sustainable improvement,” he added.

        He stressed the need for closer coordination between research and regulatory institutions so that varieties and technologies introduced to farmers were suited to local climatic conditions, pest and disease pressures and actual production requirements.

        Dr Sajid-ur-Rehman said that integrated national trials such as the National Coordinated Varietal Trials (NCVT) provided researchers with an opportunity to assess the real performance of varieties across different regions, while travelling seminars helped narrow the traditional gap between laboratories and fields.

          He termed the travelling seminar a useful mechanism for narrowing the gap between research institutions and farmers and appreciated NSDRA’ s initiative to take the activity to different parts of the country.

            According to NSDRA Member Dr Qamar Shakeel, seed quality is at the heart of the strategy, as a reliable seed system was fundamental to improving agricultural productivity and farmers’ incomes.

            He said that the National Seed Policy 2024 provided a strategic direction for the seed sector, but its effective implementation required continuous coordination among regulators, research institutions, universities, seed companies, agriculture departments and farmers.

         NSDRA’s official mandate similarly identifies seed quality, research and development, climate resilience, farmer training and export promotion among its focus areas, he added.

         According to Dr Qamar Shakeel, regulation should not be viewed merely as a mechanism for controlling the seed market. It should form part of an integrated chain in which promising varieties are identified, scientifically evaluated, approved, multiplied into quality seed and accompanied by accurate information for farmers.

        The authority’s regulatory framework provides for variety registration trials to be conducted for two or more years using approved testing procedures, reinforcing the importance of multi-location and multi-season evidence before varieties are registered, he added.

         A spokesman of Agriculture (Extension) Department said that the challenge facing cotton is not confined to production statistics. It affects ginners, spinners, textile manufacturers, exporters, farm labor and millions of people connected directly or indirectly with the agricultural and industrial value chain.

           He said that recent official data demonstrate the scale of linkage. During the first half of FY 2024-25, Pakistan’s textile exports reached $9.08 billion, up 9.7 percent from $8.28 billion in the corresponding period a year earlier, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. Apparel exports rose 19.1 percent and home-textile exports 12.4 percent during the period.

          Yet the domestic cotton crop has struggled to consistently supply the quantity and quality required by the downstream industry. The sharp fall in cotton production from 10.22 million bales in 2023-24 to 7.084 million bales in 2024-25 illustrates the scale of recent volatility.

           This is where the travelling seminar assumes importance. It creates a mechanism for comparing field realities across regions instead of treating cotton production as a single national problem, he added.

        He said that a variety that performs well in one agro-climatic zone may not necessarily deliver the same results elsewhere. Soil conditions, temperature, irrigation availability, pest pressure, disease incidence and farmers’ management practices can all alter performance.

       Multi-location trials can therefore provide a stronger evidence base for recommending varieties according to local conditions, he added.

        He said that the cotton travelling seminar also points towards a broader shift in agricultural policy-making from isolated interventions towards an integrated research-to-farm system.

         He said that NSDRA itself identifies several structural challenges in Pakistan’s seed sector, including inadequate research coordination, limited availability of early-generation seed, climate-related risks, weaknesses in post-harvest seed processing and storage, inefficient supply chains and the marketing of unapproved varieties.

         For farmers, however, the ultimate test of any research or regulatory initiative remains simple: whether a recommended variety produces a reliable crop, withstands local stresses and improves returns, he

added.

           He said that the Cotton Travelling Seminar 2026 therefore carries significance beyond its seven-day schedule. By bringing scientists and regulators to trial plots and production districts, it is creating an opportunity to connect experimental results with farmers’ experience and policy decisions with conditions in the field, he added.

        He said that Pakistan’s cotton future may ultimately depend less on how many new varieties are announced than on how rigorously they are tested, how reliably quality seed reaches farmers and how effectively scientific knowledge is converted into higher yields, better fiber quality and stronger farm incomes.

          For a crop that feeds a textile chain accounting for more than half of the country’s merchandise exports, that transition from seed quality to field performance and from field performance to industrial competitiveness is no longer simply an agricultural objective. It is an economic imperative, he added.