Punjab government has formulated a well-knitted plan for the promotion of sunflower and other oil seed crops in the Province. The step has been taken to produce maximum edible oil aimed at lessening the import and to produce maximum edible oil in the province.
Sources in local Agriculture department told Business Recorder on Sunday that under the programme over 87,000 acres of land would be brought under Sunflower crop in various areas of Punjab.
In Gujranwala division as many as 2758 acres of land would be brought under Sunflower cultivation. The sunflower will be cultivated on 1856 acres in Sialkot district, 541 acres in Narowal district, 247 acres in Gujranwala district, and 114 acres in Hafizabad district of the division.
At present only 34 percent edible oil is being produced within country and 66 percent was being imported for catering the domestic needs for which government was spending huge foreign exchange on the import of edible oil every year. The demand of edible oil was increasing rapidly due to fast increase in population of the country and under the situation extra efforts should be made for cultivating oil seed crops including sunflower for minimising the import of edible oil.
The sunflower crop could play a vital role in enhancing the production of edible oil because the sunflower seeds had 40 percent oil capacity.