LAHORE: Secretary Agriculture, Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo has said that the current year is “the year of revival of cotton”. It is very encouraging that the cotton market remained stable this year as it will have a positive impact on the cotton supply chain.
There is a need to pay special attention to nutritional management in order to get full production of cotton crop during this month.
Apart from this, measures should be continued on a priority basis for cotton surveillance, monitoring and prevention of harmful insects. . He was presiding over a meeting held today in Multan and Bahawalpur to monitor the current situation of cotton and floods in South Punjab.
The meeting was attended by senior officials of the District Administration and the senior officers of Agriculture Department. During the briefing, the Secretary was told that overall condition of cotton is satisfactory in the province and priority measures are being taken for better care of the cotton crop. However, in some areas the attack of whitefly, milli bug and pink bollworm has been observed. On receiving the report, the agricultural extension and pest warning teams are spraying agricultural poisons with advanced chemistry.
On this occasion, the Punjab Agriculture Secretary gave instructions that a technical session of agricultural experts should be held to prepare a comprehensive strategy for the prevention of harmful insects and worms, so that the farmers, keeping in mind the weather conditions and hotspot areas, An advisory can be prepared for this, which can then be immediately conveyed to the farmers by the agricultural extension workers.
During the briefing, it was further informed that harvesting of early sown cotton crop is in progress and overall cotton crop is good so far.
On this occasion, Secretary Agriculture, Punjab directed all the divisional directors to compile a record of the arrival of cotton gins in ginning factories and by picking dry cotton, the farmers got more profit.
Agriculture extension officers and staff should participated alongside the farmers. In response to a question, the Secretary was told that technical guidance is being given to the farmers to restore the flood-affected cotton crop in South Punjab. On the occasion, he directed to take measures for protection, maintain liaison with the irrigation department and submit a comprehensive report by monitoring the flood situation.
He clarified that more per acre production of cotton will lead to the prosperity of farmers and stability in the country’s economy. Therefore, all officers and staff should perform their duty as a national spirit.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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