Author
DR MUHAMMAD ALI TALPUR
Director, Directorate of Marketing & Economic Research, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, Multan, Pakistan.
Corresponding author = dmer@pccc.gov.pk
mir_alitalpur@yahoo.com
Abstract
Cotton being a cash crop contributes significantly to the national exchequer of Pakistan. It accounts for 1.5 percent in GDP, 7.1 percent in agriculture value addition and Cotton and textile exports fetched US$ 10.22 billion in 2014-15 (Economic survey-2014-15) . Cotton crop covered an area of 2.96 million hectares in 2014-15 and produced 13.98 million bales. This paper highlights the economics of cotton as compared to other competing crops in Pakistan. Cotton crop, competes with rice, sugarcane and other crops for land, water and other farm resources in the area where the cultivation of all other crops is technically feasible. Mainly cotton faces indirect competition from sugarcane, the annual crop which keeps the land throughout the year. The farmer gives priority and takes decision on the economics of cotton and competing crops on the basis of inputs-outputs prices paid and received. The estimation of the indicators, like gross cost, gross income, gross margin, net income, input-output ratio, etc may provide the useful sights to the growers at farm level.