A large number of farmers and agriculturists in Sindh have diverted to sunflower farming as a result of which sunflower crop will be sown on more than double of the target area which was fixed by Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB) Sindh for the province.
This was stated by Director PODB Sindh, Waris Shaikh, in a news briefing here on Wednesday.
He said, the PODB was directed by Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind for running special campaigns to popularise the sunflower cropping in Sindh and Balochistan.
In Thatta district only an area of 2 lac (0.2 million) acres had been brought under cultivation of sunflower in the current season whereas the PODB had set a target of 14/2 lac (0.15 million) acres in the district.
Similarly, he said, encouraging results were received about sunflower sowing from Jacobabad, Larkana, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Badin and other districts where the crop had received a tremendous attraction among the farming community due to its profitable return.
During last year, he said, sunflower had fetched a price of Rs 630 per 40 KG, whereas now it was likely to get a return of Rs 900 to Rs 1000 per 40 KG in the open market.
Director PODB Sindh said the Department was facing problems due to shortage of sunflower seeds and Minfal had been requested to take urgent measures to meet the demand.
"We are receiving daily reports from different parts of interior Sindh about non-availability of sunflower seeds whereas hundreds of farmers had prepared their lands for sowing the crop," he remarked.
He said, the first meeting of Pakistan Agriculture Advisory Board (PAAB) will held at Islamabad on Thursday under the chairmanship of Federal Minister Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, which would -take into account the problems of sunflower farmers of Sindh.
He said there were bright prospects of sun-flower crop in future, which could be sown in millions of hectares in Sindh and Balochistan where the farmers often faced the problem of water shortage.
The sunflower crop was cultivable with a marginal quantity of water as compared to crops of cotton, rice and sugarcane.
Besides, sunflower cropping would also play a big role in reducing the country's expenditure on import of edible oil in the form of foreign exchange for meeting the demand of its oil and ghee industry, he said.