Pakistan’s Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research recently asked the government to set a minimum support price (MSP) for cotton so that farmers make reasonable profit. If the price falls below MSP, the government should intervene to protect growers’ interests, Senator Muzaffar Shah said while presiding over the committee meeting. The committee asked the ministry of national food security and research to calculate the cost of production, fix the MSP based on that, and initiate measures to ensure the cost of production is covered and growers get reasonable profit, according to Pakistani media reports. The committee expressed concern over cotton farmers in Punjab shifting to maize and those in Sindh switching to sugarcane.
