LAHORE: The Punjab Seed Council (PSC) on Friday approved eight new seeds of different crops for general cultivation including six new varieties of cotton and two varieties vegetables meeting the prescribed SOPs.

The approval was accorded at the 57th meeting of the Punjab Seed Council held on Friday with the provincial Minister for Agriculture S M Tanveer in the chair.

In the meeting, MD Punjab Seed Corporation Shan-ul-Haq presented 16 new types of seeds of various agricultural commodities of public and private sector for approval of general cultivation. The minister Punjab did not approve eight varieties due to not receiving DNA fingerprint report or other unavoidable reasons.

Speaking on this occasion, the minister said that agriculture was an important sector of the national economy. All possible measures were being taken for agricultural development. DNA fingerprint reporting varieties had been approved for achieving agricultural production targets, which would not only enable the acquisition of pure seed but also royalties to registered breeders from the federal government.

S M Tanvir congratulated the agricultural scientists for the development and discovery of new varieties and directed to further improve the research trials and for the future approval of varieties of agricultural commodities in the Punjab Seed Council. He said that the variety registration and DNA fingerprinting was mandatory for approval.

The minister further said that the basis of agriculture was seed. The present government was paying special attention to the production of quality seed so that we could increase our per acre agricultural production with world-class seed, which would also increase domestic exports. While giving instructions to maintain the quality while discovering new types of agricultural commodities, he said, that instead of discovering more types, such types should be discovered which could give better results in the field.

He urged the agricultural scientists to discover varieties that could be profitable for five years or more in the field while keeping production costs low. New varieties of resistant crops were being developed to minimize disease attack on crops and increase agricultural production per acre.

In the meeting, the minister directed to form a committee which will test the new varieties of cotton according to the set international standards and it will have representatives from Aptma, Director General (Research and Extension) and private sector experts. He also directed that any future crop variety will submit its fingerprint report within 90 days.

The meeting was attended among others by MD Punjab Seed Corporation Shan-ul-Haq, Director General Agriculture (Extension) Dr Anjum Ali, Chief Scientist Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad Dr Akhtar, Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture Faisalabad Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan along with members of Punjab Seed Council and public and private sector breeders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023