Provincial Minister for Agriculture Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi has said that wheat production in Punjab has increased 1.5 mounds per acre this year and hoped that it will go by 3 mounds next year.
He stated this while addressing farmers’ convention at Iqbal Auditorium jointly organized by the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Punjab Agricultural Extension Department and Fatima Group at Iqbal Auditorium.
He said that the government was taking all possible measures to make agriculture profitable, ensure food security and increase per acre production that will help alleviate poverty at the grassroots level and open new avenues for economic growth.
He said that agriculturists, farmers and scientists would have to make collaborated efforts to increase production.
He said that Faisalabad has a prominent position in the field of agricultural sciences. He said that the agricultural scientists of Faisalabad have rendered immense services for the development of agriculture and hoped that they would continue to play their full role in tackling the challenges facing agriculture in the years to come.
He said that due to the farmer-friendly policies of the government and the hard work of the farmers, a record production of 16 million metric tonnes of wheat was achieved in Punjab last year while the production target of wheat this year has been set at 22 million metric tonnes.
He said that this year 1 million bags of approved varieties of wheat seeds would be made available to the farmers at a subsidized rate of Rs. 1,200 per bag.
He said that in order to promote mechanized cultivation of wheat, a program of providing modern machinery worth Rs. 1.20 billion at 50 percent subsidy is also being implemented.
He said that last year wheat was cultivated on 19.11 lakh acres in Faisalabad division which yielded 2.6 million tonnes.
The Punjab government has issued Kisan Card for providing direct subsidy in case of cash transfer, under which more than 500,000 farmers have so far registered for this card.
He asked the farmers to complete the registration of farmer cards as soon as possible so that they could avail the subsidy. He urged the need for students mobilization of UAF in wheat sowing campaign.
Punjab Agriculture Secretary Asad Rehman Gilani said that a subsidy of Rs 12 billion was being given to farmers for the supply of fertilizer.
He said that the supply of certified high yielding seeds to the farmers would be ensured. He said that a farmer in the wheat production competition last year has achieved 94 mounds per acre.
He said that a subsidy of Rs.1000 per bag was being given on DAP fertilizer to reduce the production cost. He said that they had recommended the federal government to increase the support price of wheat.
