For generations cotton has been the backbone of Pakistan’s agriculture and economy. Known as “white gold,” cotton sustains over 1.3 million farming families, employs millions in the textile and allied sectors, and contributes more than half of the country’s total export earnings.

Yet, in the last two decades, cotton has been in sharp decline. Its traditional strongholds in Sindh and Punjab are increasingly dominated not by white cotton fields but by tall stalks of sugarcane, a shift that has proven disastrous for both agriculture and the economy of Pakistan.

The spread of sugarcane into cotton belts is not accidental. Wherever sugarcane takes root, cotton withers away. This is because the very nature of sugarcane cultivation is incompatible with cotton’s.

Sugarcane requires prolonged irrigation, often leaving fields waterlogged for months. This not only damages soil structure but also increases surrounding soil moisture. Such conditions are highly favorable for pests like Whitefly, Jassid, and Mealybug. The pest pressure spills over into cotton fields, creating an uncontrollable pest complex.

Even repeated pesticide sprays fail, making cotton cultivation near sugarcane unviable. Farmers, facing recurring cotton failures, are compelled to abandon cotton entirely and switch to cane, which appears more stable in the short term due to mill contracts.

At first glance,........

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