‘Cotton to be sown on 5.61m acres to achieve production target’

MULTAN: The Punjab government has planned to sow cotton on 5.61 million acres of land to achieve production target of 10.5 million bales in the next cotton season.

It was stated by Punjab Minister for Agriculture Dr Farrukh Javed while addressing a Cotton Crop Management Group meeting at Central Cotton Research Institute on Friday. Officials of the agriculture and irrigation departments belonging to Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Faisalabad Zones participated in the meeting. The minister said that Pakistan was on the fifth number among cotton producing countries across the world. He said that per acre yield had been targeted to 21 maund and all resources would be utilised in achieving the per acre target. Dr Farrukh Javed expressed his satisfaction over all crops situation but he stressed on cotton growers on daily basis monitoring of immature crop and conduct pest scouting on regular basis. He said that village level farmers’ training programme on Bt cotton varieties and non-Bt varieties was being progress in every tehsil and district.

More than 1.8 million copies of agriculture literature on cotton crop had been distributed in cotton growing areas, he disclosed. The minister said the Punjab Agriculture Department had collected 3,615 pesticides samples for lab test since 2014. He said that 70 samples were found adulterated out of total 85 while cases had been registered against the accused persons. Similarly, in a crackdown on substandard fertiliser, he added, the Agriculture Department had collected 1,553 samples for lab test while 72 samples were found substandard.