Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has suspended the heads of two major agricultural research bodies, the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC), in response to their failure to address the nation’s cotton production crisis, a significant blow to the agricultural sector.
BR reported, citing sources, that Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali, chairman of PARC, and Dr. Yusuf Zafar, vice president of PCCC, were removed from their positions following mounting complaints about their lack of action.
The Prime Minister’s Office reportedly received numerous urgent calls from concerned farmers and experts, urging immediate reforms.
Both organisations have been accused of neglecting essential research on cotton, despite the nation’s cotton industry, once a powerhouse, suffering a dramatic decline for nearly a decade.
Over the past ten years, Pakistan’s cotton production has fallen from 14 million bales in 2012-13 to just 5 million bales in the current fiscal year, 2024-25. This sharp decline has severely affected the agricultural economy, with both PARC and PCCC failing to develop new cotton varieties to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The Prime Minister’s frustration grew after discovering that neither body had conducted any meaningful research in the last decade, with some sources alleging that PARC was obstructed from taking necessary actions.
The lack of funding for the PCCC due to the absence of a cotton cess further exacerbated the situation, while multiple complaints about the inability to produce cotton varieties resistant to climate change heightened tensions within the agricultural community.