Special teams, comprising representatives of the Federal Seed Certification Department, Agriculture Extension and growers, will be constituted to take samples of seed for testing and ensure the quality of seed being supplied to the growers.
This was decided at a meeting of Wheat Crop Management Committee, held under the chairmanship of Sindh Food and Agriculture Minister Arif Mustafa Jatoi here on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that appropriate and speedy legal action would be taken against those selling sub-standard seeds.
He said that to promote availability of quality wheat seed, the Provincial Agriculture Department would launch a programme of providing the facility of seed cleaners and graders to the common growers.
The meeting was informed that the Foundation Seed Cell was increasing production of basic seed of wheat, which would be supplied to registered seed companies for multiplication.
It was decided that growers would be encouraged and facilitated for producing quality seed on their farms and distributing to the fellow growers.
The minister emphasised the need for focusing on steps to increase yield per acre of wheat crop to overcome wheat shortage in the province and make wheat crop cultivation economically more beneficial for the growers.
The meeting was further informed that wheat cultivation target of 0.85 million hectare had almost been achieved in Sindh and production of 2.300 million tonnes was expected to be obtained.
The wheat crop germination was good and wheat growers had been advised to eliminate weeds from their crops, which affected yield up to 20 percent, the meeting was told.
Growers representatives, Dr Shahnawaz Shah, Dr Zulfiqar Yousfani and Farooq A.K. Lodhi, Secretary Agriculture, wheat experts and field officers attended the meeting.
Earlier on Friday, Arif Jatoi visited the Drip Irrigation System, installed at fruit fields of Gadap Town.
He commended the initiative of individual farmers who, at their own level and with the help of private companies like Engro, are improving agriculture, especially in crops such as Ber, Palam and Paan.
The minister said that such systems could play an important role in saving irrigation water and power resources.
Comments
Comments are closed.