LAHORE: All stakeholders should join hands to save the labor of cotton farmers from wasting. With the special technical support of the Pakistan Army, modern chemicals are being sprayed with the help of drones and helicopters, which are reducing the whitefly attack.

Special teams of the Agriculture Department are working with the utmost professionalism to protect the cotton crop from the attack of harmful insects in South Punjab.

Apart from this, technical guidance is also being given to the farmers for clean picking of cotton so that the farmers get better compensation for clean and dry picked cotton.

These views were expressed by Secretary Agriculture, Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo regarding the current situation of cotton in the province while presiding over the review meeting held in Lahore. The meeting was attended by Consultant Agriculture Extension, Dr. Muhammad Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture, Crop Reporting, Dr. Abdul Qayyum and Director Agricultural Information, Punjab Rai Mudassar Abbas and other officers, while Director General Agriculture Pest Warning Punjab Rana Faqir along with all divisional directors of Agriculture Extension participated through video link.

During the briefing, the Secretary Agriculture was told that cotton picking is going on across the province while providing guidance to farmers regarding cotton irrigation, nutrition and pest management in the month of September. Whitefly attack has been observed in some areas, particularly in South Punjab, due to hot weather and dry weather.

However, after receiving the report, advanced chemicals were sprayed with the help of drones and helicopters on an area of 2500 acres in Jampur and Rajanpur areas with the support of Pakistan Army. Farmers are satisfied as special teams of Agriculture Extension & Pest Warning are working as partners side by side. This year, the production of cotton in the whole province has been doubled compared to last year.

Iftikhar Ali Sahoo also instructed all the divisional directors to compile the data of cotton production records so that effective strategies can be formulated for more production of cotton in the coming years keeping in view the correct estimate.

He clarified that more per acre production of cotton is the guarantee of farmers’ prosperity and stability in the country’s economy. Therefore, all the officers and staff should perform their duty as a national duty.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023