Punjab agri dept given task to increase per acre yield

MULTAN: The Punjab government has devised a comprehensive strategy to avoid food security threat.It was said by PML-N MPA and Punjab Parliamentary Secretary on Agriculture Rana Ijaz Ahmed Noon while addressing a seminar on cotton production and marketing problems and Kisan Mela at Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture on Wednesday. The MPA said that the government had assigned task to the Punjab Agriculture Department to increase crop produce per acre and save interests of growers.

He said the Punjab government had introduced peasants-friendly policies and strengthening them at grass-roots level. Rana Ijaz said the country’s 63pc exports depend on agriculture and Punjab was contributing 70pc share in crops production.

He said the Punjab agriculture sector under the leadership of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was growing and flourishing and delivering propriety among peasants. The agriculture production had been increased to maximum level in the recent months because of effective measures and policies, he claimed.

The federal government had devised aggressive strategy for the increase in wheat, cotton and paddy production and constituted committees at high level for developing and strengthening marketing network to boost farmers, he added. He asked the agriculture experts to prepare recommendations and dispatch to the government for bringing revolutionary reforms in agriculture sector.

MNSUA Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Asif Ali, ex-Agriculture minister Ahmed Ali Olakh, Punjab Agriculture Extension DG Dr Anjum Ali, PCPA chairman Saad Akbar Khan, Punjab Agriculture Information Director Muhammad Rafiq Akhtar, Multan Agriculture Information AD Naveed Asmat, progressive grower Syed Fakhar Imam, agriculturists Dr Abid Mahmood, Mumtaz Ahmed and other agriculture experts also spoke.