**7. Pest and disease management**

One of the main barriers to Pakistani cotton production is insect infestations [54]. The main obstacles to Pakistan's high cotton productivity are sucking insects (including whiteflies, jassids, and aphids) and bollworms (such as the American bollworm, spotted bollworm, and pink bollworm) [55]. The farmers' efforts to manage these insect pests are occasionally hampered by untimely rains and high temperatures, which cause crop losses and significant output decreases [56]. Even with substantial pesticide treatment, farmers were unable to manage the heavy whitefly attack throughout the months of June, July, and August, which led to the loss of cell sap, low boll setting, and low crop output in all cotton-growing regions [57].

Whitefly infestations were severe, which helped CLCuV spread in Punjab's hotspot regions and contributed to poor cotton production [28]. Similar to this, during October's high temperatures and poor Bt variety expression, pink bollworms spread and damaged bolls, resulting in a low cotton yield [58]. Bt (Cry1Ac) gene's low expression after 80 days has reduced its efficiency, making it inappropriate to protect cotton from various bollworms [59]. Although there is currently no scientific evidence, it is possible that some pink bollworm pests with high levels of resistance might migrate from India. The resistant pest may have been transported through the import of Indian cotton and the quarantine department's lack of action [60].

High temperatures during blooming and boll development are yet another major barrier to Pakistan's cotton output [61]. This causes blooms and bolls to fall off, which affects crop yields and output across the nation. Among the cotton diseases, CLCuD caused by several CLCuV (Begomovirus) strains has continued to be a major barrier to Pakistan's ability to produce cotton [62]. The prevalence of this disease is declining in the nation as a result of evolution, where cultivars have a high degree of tolerance against CLCuV [28]. However, in recent years, bacterial cotton blight has started to bring a serious danger to cotton output [63].

Other significant factors contributing to low cotton productivity include poor soil productivity, insufficient fertilizer use, salinity, waterlogging, insufficient water supply, improper soil and water management, pesticide misuse, early or late cotton planting, division between landlords and tenants, low adoption of new technology, financial constraints, and low literacy levels [36, 64].
