LAHORE: Cotton sowing target for the South Punjab has been set for 4.554 million acres of land which comes to 91 percent of the target set for the whole of the province.
So far cotton has been cultivated on an area of more than 0.533 million acres in Multan division. While in DG Khan division, 0.971 million acres of land will be brought under cotton cultivation. This was informed at a meeting to review the cotton sowing plan with Secretary Agriculture Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahu in the chair.
Commissioner Multan Division Aamir Khattak, Deputy Commissioner Multan Umar Jahangir, Deputy Commissioner Khanewal, Deputy Commissioner Vehari, Deputy Commissioner Lodhran, Secretary Agriculture South Punjab Saqib Ali Ateel, Additional Secretary Agriculture (Task Force) South Punjab Imtiaz Ahmad Warraich, Director General Agriculture (Extension) Dr Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture (Pest Warning), Rana Faqir Ahmed, Deputy Director Agriculture Information, Multan division directors and deputy directors agriculture and other stakeholders participated.
The Agriculture secretary said that all the institutions have to fulfill their responsibility under the national spirit to achieve the cotton cultivated area and production target.
He said that during the cotton season, the Agriculture department of South Punjab field staff will provide all possible facilities to the farmers to achieve the target of cotton cultivation.
On this occasion, the secretary gave instructions to ensure the availability of quality agricultural inputs in the market during the cotton season and to prepare a record of information related to the dealers of fertilizers, seeds and agricultural drugs in each district of the cotton zone.
Secretary Agriculture South Punjab Saqib Ali Ateel proposed to increase the number of facility centers established for cotton at the district level, to which the secretary Agriculture Punjab agreed and issued orders to the relevant formations. Monitoring responsibilities have also been assigned to the staff of the Department of Agriculture.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023