Cotton should be grown in newly identified areas in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to improve its declining production in the country, said Dr Muhammad Azeem, Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), on Thursday.
Talking to media persons during exposure visit to National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), he said new areas including Sibi, Dera Bugti, Kohlu, Barkhan, Lasbella, Khuzdar and DI Khan had been identified for cotton cultivation. "We need to focus on cultivating cotton in newly identified areas instead of focusing over the areas where farmers shifted to other cash crops," he said.
He said textile industry did not care about the declining cotton production in the country. Despite decline in production of cotton, farmers did not get proper price for their crop, he said.
The PARC chairman also said the government was planning to fix support price of pulses in order to increase their production and minimize import bill. He said, "Improvement in the country's economy would be difficult until we develop export-led agriculture."
He said the present government had taken many initiatives including agriculture emergency programme for improvement of agriculture sector. The NARC has launched new project for improvement of fishery, poultry and honey production. He said NARC had signed an agreement with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) regarding production of honey.
Azeem briefed in detail about the research activities being carried out at NARC at its different institutes. He said PARC institute and centers were working across the country for the promotion and development of agriculture sector. He briefed media about research activities regarding livestock, poultry and fisheries.
He said the Fish Cold Chain and Processing Unit was an investment to prevent food loss and was widely used in developed countries. Due to that unit, the resident of federal capital and its nearby areas would be able to get fresh fish with full nutrition, he added.
Azeem said NARC had started yogurt production which was 100 percent natural. The yogurt produced by NARC was far better than yogurt produced by other companies, he claimed.
Media team also visited NARC Agricultural and Biological Engineering Institute (ABEI) where a number of farm machines were displayed. The media persons were briefed about farm machinery including olive extraction machine, wheat straw chopper, and sisal decorticator with practical demonstration. They also visited vegetables experimental area where a number of vegetable nurseries for summer vegetables were ready.