The government be paying more for cotton it purchases from local farmers, Al Borsa reports. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail will be meeting with the ministers of agriculture and manpower to set a final price, according to Agriculture Ministry spokesman Hamed Abdel Dayem. As it stands, the proposed price increases would have the government buying long-staple cotton from the Delta for EGP 3,000 per qintar, up from EGP 1,250 before. Short- and medium-staple cotton from Upper Egypt would be priced at EGP 2,500 per qintar, up from EGP 1,100 before. The government is also looking to cultivate 220k feddans of cotton next year, Ismail told the press. This season’s cotton harvest season had fallen far below the government’s targets, reaching only 127k feddans of the planned 250k feddans. This was also 3% lower than the 131k feddans planted last year. The state is also planning to double long-staple cotton production and exports in FY2017-18.