LAHORE: Harvesting of the early cultivated cotton crop is in progress in the province and so far more than 0.2 million bales of cotton have reached the ginning factories.
In some cotton growing areas, white fly, mealy bug and pink bollworm attack has been observed but it is below the economic limit of damage. After receiving the report, the teams of agriculture extension and pest warning are spraying pesticides with modern chemistry.
This was disclosed at a divisional level meeting of the provincial agricultural department here on Wednesday with the Secretary Agriculture Iftikhar Ali Sahoo in the chair. The meeting reviewed the current situation of cotton crop and floods in three divisions of the southern Punjab.
Speaking on this occasion, Secretary Agriculture Punjab stressed the need for nutritional management of the cotton crop to get a full production. He termed the months of September and October as very important for the cotton crops.
He directed that all the divisional directors should prepare a record of arrivals at the ginning factories so that a comprehensive strategy can be formulated for future crop while keeping in view the current production.
He termed stability in the cotton market as very encouraging hoping it would be beneficial for the farmers for his prosperity. He said it would also leave a positive impact on the next harvest.
During the briefing, the Secretary Agriculture was informed that the condition of cotton across the province was satisfactory and priority measures were being taken for better care of the crop. Pesticides with modern chemistry were being sprayed in the reported hotspot areas. In response to a question, Secretary Agriculture, Punjab was told that technical guidance was being given to the farmers to restore the flood-affected cotton crop in South Punjab.
Iftikhar Ali Sahoo directed to take immediate measures to protect cotton as well as other crops from flood water.
In this regard, a liaison should be maintained with the Irrigation Department and the flood situation should be monitored and a comprehensive report should be prepared and sent to his office. He further said that apart from this technical guidance for clean cotton picking should also be given to farmers.
He clarified that more per acre production of cotton would lead to prosperity of the farmers and stability in the country’s economy. Therefore, all the officers and staff should fulfil their duty as a National spirit in order to achieve the production target of cotton. The campaign had been going on for the past 4 months. With a few more days of hard work, we would be able to achieve our goal, he added.
Additional Secretary Agriculture, Task Force, Punjab Muhammad Shabir Ahmad Khan, Consultant, Agriculture Extension Department Dr Anjum Ali Director General Agriculture (Extension) Dr Ishtiaq Hassan, Director General Agriculture (Pest Warning), Punjab Rana Faqir Ahmad, Director General Crop Reporting Punjab Dr Abdul Qayyum and other officers also attended the meeting with Multan, Bahawalpur and DG Khan Divisional Directors of Agriculture Extension through video link.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023