Agriculture potential of South Punjab to be enhanced

MULTAN: South Punjab Agriculture Secretary Saqib Ali Saturday said efforts are underway to enhance agriculture potential of the region.

Talking to reporters after visiting Suleman hilly area, the agriculture secretary said the South Punjab Agriculture Secretariat has planned promotion of vegetable cultivation in hilly and zig-zag region of Suleman mountain belt bringing fertility to the lands of the region.

The departments concerned are directed to prepare a joint commercial scheme of vegetables cultivation in tehsil Suleman mountains to promote the neglected region.

He said the SPAD has been working to launch a comprehensive scheme of vegetable cultivation in Suleman mountain. The scheme would be a source of income generation to farmers of Suleman belt besides reducing poverty bringing prosperity in their life and raising life standard. He said those exclusive schemes would open new windows of job opportunities in the backward region. The secretary said all the schemes would prove the one step forward to organic farming because the Suleman mountain belt has a very wide scoop for organic farming. The demand for natural and organic food has been increasing across the globe continuously, he maintained.

He said available environment in Suleman belt is most suitable for cultivation of organic crop. He underlined the need for achieving goals successfully and making it a model of green revolution. He said the SPAD is introducing a model of E-governance in the region.

The new Information Computer Technology system would have a foolproof system of accountability to evaluate performance of all the sections of the agriculture department. The secretary said the digital system is being introduced in the first phase in agriculture extension for monitoring and evaluation. He said agriculture uplift in Dera Ghazi Khan is a big challenge, which he had accepted.

He said the South Punjab Administrative Secretariat would open doors for backward areas for development. He said 98 tracks for travelling have been completed in Suleman mountain belt with 354 kilometers length while the work on six tracks have been in progress.

He said bulldozers have worked for 11,179 hours. The numbers 130 more tracks would be developed with the help of bulldozers. The seeds of wheat and fodder are provided to farmers in Suleman mountains on subsidy.

He said the numbers of 6,000 bags of 50 kilogram wheat seeds, 1,000 bags of maize and 6,000 bags of kitchen gardening seeds would be provided in the tribal belt in next two years. He said seventeen irrigation schemes, eleven storage ponds and drip irrigation systems have been installed at a site in Suleman mountains belt.