Over 20m ton wheat production target set for Punjab

LAHORE: The target for wheat cultivation this year has been set at 17 million acres which will help produce over 20 million tons positively, said Punjab Minister for Agriculture Syed Hussain here on Monday.

The government has fixed the price of seed bags produced by Punjab Seed Corporation at Rs 2,850 per 50 kg to provide cheap and quality seeds to wheat farmers. Farmers should cultivate a maximum area of seed approved by the Department of Agriculture to achieve higher yield per acre.

These views were expressed by the minister while presiding over a meeting on wheat production strategy. The minister urged the farmers to sow agriculture departments’ approved wheat seed as much as possible and in this regard the Minister directed the officers of the Extension Department to provide technical guidance and assistance to the field staff to increase the outreach and achieve the wheat cultivation targets. The minister directed the authorities to ensure availability of wheat seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs in the market for which he approved a monitoring mechanism. He said that staff must ensure availability of irrigation water before closure of canals after timely sowing of wheat.