Caretaker Minister for Industries and Agriculture SM Tanvir said that agriculture is an important sector of the national economy and all possible measures are being taken for agricultural development.
He said DNA fingerprint reporting varieties have been approved for achieving agricultural production targets, which will not only enable the acquisition of pure seed but also royalties to registered breeders from the federal government. He said this while presiding over the 57th meeting of Punjab Seed Council the other day. MD Punjab Seed Corporation Shan-ul-Haq on this occasion presented 16 new types of seeds of various agricultural commodities of public and private sector for approval of general cultivation. Provincial Minister gave approval for the general cultivation of eight different crop types, including six new varieties of cotton and two varieties of vegetables, meeting the prescribed SOPs while rejected eight varieties for not receiving DNA fingerprint report or other unavoidable reasons.
The Minister congratulated the agricultural scientists for the development and discovery of new varieties and directed to further improve the research trials. He directed to make variety registration and DNA fingerprinting mandatory for the future approval of varieties of agricultural commodities in the Punjab Seed Council. He also directed that any future crop variety will submit its fingerprint report within 90 days.
He further said that seed is the basis of agriculture and the government is paying special attention to the production of quality seed so that we can increase our per acre agricultural production with world-class seed, which will also increase domestic exports.
While giving instructions to maintain the quality while discovering new types of agricultural commodities, the minister said that instead of discovering more types, such types should be discovered which can give better results in the field. Apart from traditional agriculture, there are opportunities to increase the production of dates and fruits in our country, he said.
He urged the agricultural scientists to discover varieties that can be profitable for five years or more in the field while keeping production costs low. New varieties of resistant crops are being developed to minimise disease attack on crops and increase agricultural production per acre, he added.
Punjab Agriculture Minister directed to form a committee, which will test the new varieties of cotton according to the set international standards and this committee will have representatives from APTMA, Director General (Research and Extension) and private sector experts.
