The agriculture experts have advised the growers to immediately start cultivation of canola and complete it during October for getting bumper yield.
A spokesman of Agriculture (Extension) Department said here on Tuesday that canola was an important cash crop which not only played an important role in catering to domestic oil needs but also helped the growers to mitigate their financial sufferings. He said that although Pakistan was an agrarian country, yet the country had to export edible oil by spending billions of rupees every year as the domestic oil-seed crops could cater to 12 percent requirement of edible oil. Therefore, the Punjab government had allocated Rs.5.11 billion for promotion of oil-seed crops across the province so that the country could trim its export bill for edible oil at maximum extent. In this connection, the government had also announced a subsidy of Rs.5000 per acre on cultivation of canola crop this year.
The farmers were also persuaded to take part in demonstration of canola plots and the government would provide them Rs.20,000 per acre as expenditures of the crop. He said that competition for canola production would also be arranged and the position holder farmers would be awarded cash prizes in addition to providing them agri appliances on subsidized rates. He further said that best time for canola cultivation was October. Hence the growers should concentrate on canola and cultivate it over maximum space of their lands as this crop gave maximum production as compared to the production of other oil-seed crops. He said that late sowing could not only hamper the production but also damage the quality of grain. Similarly, seed of poor quality would also affect germination and growth of the crop.
Therefore, the farmers should use seed of approved hybrid varieties of canola for cultivation including TM Canola, Rachna Canola, Khanpur Canola, Barani Canola, Sandal Canola, Super Canola, etc. He said that the growers should use 2 kilograms seed of canola per acre in addition to applying fertilizer of one bag DAP, one bag Urea and one bag Potassium Sulphate at the time of sowing. The farmers should also cultivate canola in rows with a distance of 1.5 feet among these rows so that the weeds could be removed from the crop easily.
More information and guidance in this regard could be obtained from agriculture experts by visiting nearest agriculture office during working days, he added
