Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal has said that Pakistan cannot eradicate poverty without strengthening rural economy and the present regime is committed to this cause. While chairing 4th meeting of the steering committee for development of BT cotton in collaboration with Monsanto the minister added that the government will not allow anyone to exploit farmers and will only adopt technology conducive to our own environment.
Nazar Muhammad Gondal emphasised the need of early launching of Bt cottonseed after taking all precautionary measures and field tests. The Minister was informed that the MoU with Monsanto is in law division for vetting. The meeting was told that this year we are expecting cotton cultivated on area of 78 lac acres, which is 8 lac acres more than previous year.
The meeting told that hopefully after finalisation of MoU with Monsanto in next year Pakistan will get 20 percent of its cotton cultivated area under BT cotton seed. The minister asked the scientists to take in depth research on cotton leaf virus, which is damaging cotton crop on large area. The minister said that our textile industry is backbone of our economy and introduction of modern seed technology in cotton will give a boast not only to farmers but to industry as well.
The minister said that government accords high priority to agriculture and striving hard to turn this sector into competitive and profitable. The minister said that whenever PPP came into power it worked for the poor farmers and downtrodden sections of the society.
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