LAHORE: Punjab Agriculture Minister Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial has said that acquisition of modern technology is need of the hour to increase cotton production. Soon after the completion of rules and regulations for approval of new varieties of cotton, the farmers will get increased production of cotton per acre with 50 percent reduction in the production cost, he added.

The Minister said this while presiding over a consultative meeting of all stakeholders on modern technology of cotton seeds held at Agriculture House, Lahore. Secretary Agriculture Punjab Wasif Khurshid, Director General Agriculture Extension Punjab Dr. Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture Research Punjab Dr. Abid Mahmood, Vice Chancellor Multan Agricultural University Dr. Asif Ali, Director Cotton Research Institute Multan Dr. Sagheer Ahmed, Director Directorate of Agricultural Information Punjab Muhammad Rafiq Akhtar and Shahid Qadir, Chief Adviser to the Minister for Agriculture, and Javed Qureshi, CEO Four Brothers, from the private sector and other stakeholders attended the meeting.

During the meeting, the private sector and government agricultural scientists briefed the Minister about the varieties resistant to pink bollworm and whitefly which may be submitted to the Punjab Seed Council for early approval on the basis of data. The Secretary Agriculture said due to the ongoing climate change in cotton, the production of cotton seeds is facing decline besides usage of outdated technology.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020