Punjab Agriculture Department has decided to focus on bringing more area under cotton cultivation this year and mobilise farmers in even the non-traditional areas and project unprecedented price as a big incentive for the purpose.
The agrarian economy of Pakistan is mainly governed by cotton as this crop absorbs much of the country's labour force and has a sizeable share in exports. Among other Kharif crops, cotton is now more sustainable for the province for having new genotypes and agronomy. The crop is also gaining good price in the international and local markets but current production is not matching the requirements.
Secretary Agriculture Punjab, Arif Nadeem while chairing a consultative meeting at Central Cotton Research Institute, Multan called upon the officials of the agriculture department to make efforts to bring more area under cultivation this year and offer unprecedented price as big incentive to the farmers.
He reiterated that all resources will be made available to enhance cotton production in the province for which an elaborate plan has been finalised by Punjab Agriculture Department. There will be special focus during the pre-sowing and after sowing stages along with effective pest control. Also, print and electronic media will effectively be used to guide cotton growers, he added.
Nadeem said that as the country is comfortable in urea fertiliser's availability, DAP fertilisers would be made available in time. He directed the extension and pest warning wings of agriculture department to prepare inventory of cotton specific pesticides for effective planning to avoid speculations this season. He also directed intensify training in cotton production technology in the non-core areas where there is much potential to increase cotton production. Responding to a question, the agriculture secretary stated that there would be no water shortage during this year.
Earlier, Dr Anjum Ali Director General Agriculture (Extension) gave a presentation about the latest/approved cotton production technology 2011-12. He said that three lakh 50 thousand (over 0.35 million) maunds of tested cotton seed is available, including 45 thousand maunds seed of approved varieties being marketed by Punjab Seed Corporation.
The meeting was attended by Director General Agriculture (Research & Pest Warning) Dr Noor-ul-Islam, Director General Agriculture (Extension & AR) Dr Anjum Ali, Director Cotton, Dr Abid, Director CCRI Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, Director Agriculture Information Rafiq Akhtar and representatives of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, Fertiliser Companies, Crop Life, Pakistan Crop Protection Association & Farmer's Associations.
Sources in the agriculture department told Business Recorder here Saturday that the Extension Wing of the department recently held a daylong training programme for the master trainers of all non traditional areas at Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad. The Punjab Agriculture Minister Malik Ahmad Ali Aulakh also attended the training programme.
The master trainers will now conduct training of the extension staff and afterwards, the staff will target innovative, intuitive and prospective growers having water resources (especially in rain-fed areas) to adopt cultivation according to the latest production technology package. The extension wing has also planned at-least one awareness seminar in the non-traditional districts with the participation of selected growers all over the district to have very strong interface with the cotton experts and educate them for selection of varieties suitable for their region with the correct management to produce more. The first target for this year's campaign will be the sowing of cotton on at-least 30 percent more area than previous year in each district under the plan, sources concluded.