Agri dept establishes 21 high standard laboratories for testing soil, pesticides

MULTAN: The Punjab Agriculture Department has set up 21 high standard laboratories for testing soils, water and pesticides of all crops.

The Punjab Agriculture Department also got approved all 21 laboratories under ISO-17025 certification and the facility would help the growers in addressing their problems and difficulties, said Punjab Agriculture Secretary Wasif Khurshid while talking to the journalists here on Friday.

He said that the ISO certified laboratories had been equipped with necessary facilities.

The public, semi-public, private, importers, exporters and departments and companies could also avail the facility after paying fee fixed by the government for testing of their samples, he said.

The high tech laboratories would help increase production of different crops, including traditional and irregular cultivations, he added.

The Punjab government was exploiting all the resources in boosting per acre yield potential, he continued. Punjab Agriculture Secretary Wasif Khurshid said that the government was providing portable solar irrigation system to Bhakkar, Mianwali and Layyah for the farmers on subsidy.

The government was spending Rs 300 billion on different crops, including wheat, paddy, sugarcane, oil and seed crops in the province under Prime Minister Agriculture Emergency Programme, he told.

The government was spending Rs 3.68 billion for the installation of a drip and sprinkler water management system on 20, 000 acres of land in the province on 50pc subsidy, he said.

The small farmers were provided Rs 49 billion loans without interest in one installment instead of three installments, he maintained. The government was providing a reasonable subsidy on advanced agriculture mechanisation to increase per acre yield to promote most modern mechanisation and use of advanced agriculture machinery, he informed. The government was providing farm training to cotton, wheat, paddy, maize, sugarcane, mango and Kino growers, he told. The government was providing facilities to exporters accessing international markets for the consumption of their products and getting better prices under the Global Gap Training Programme, he added.