Vice Chancellor Islamia University Bahawalpur Prof Dr Athar Mahboob says Pakistan has witnessed a bumper cotton crop of eight point five million bales during this year due to the government's farmer friendly policies.

In an exclusive interview with Radio Pakistan Lahore Correspondent Sajjad Parvez, he said that one million bales of cotton leads to increase of exports worth one billion dollars through textile industry which is good sign for our national economy.

He said that the University's Plant Breeding and Genetics Institute developed three varieties of Cotton which have been sown over forty percent of the total area of cotton fields across the country.

Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Ather Mahboob said that these genetically modified varieties are capable of meeting the challenges of climate change, soil issues, and viral attacks on the cotton crop.

He announced that during the coming years, Islamia University, will also introduce new varieties of cotton seeds so that Pakistan can again become a big player in the field of cotton production at international level.