Staff Reporter
The Punjab Agriculture Department should ensure full implementation of the strategy formulated to increase cotton production this Kharif season and all stakeholders have to play their pivotal role in this regard.
These views were expressed by Provincial Minister for Agriculture Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi on the occasion of the sixth meeting.
Secretary Agriculture South Punjab Saqib Ali Ateel, Additional Secretary Agriculture South Punjab Barkullah Khan, Director General Agriculture (Extension) Punjab Dr Muhammad Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture (Pest Warning) Dr Muhammad Aslam, Chief Executive PARB Dr Abid Mahmood, Director General Agriculture (Research) Punjab Dr. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and Director Cotton Research Institute Multan Dr. Sagheer Ahmed participated in this meeting.
On this occasion, the Provincial Minister for Agriculture directed a special team to monitor the seed certification. Emphasized the need to ensure implementation he said that the sowing data should be taken into consideration and the capacity of seed related labs should be increased.
Minister for Agriculture, Punjab also said that pesticide companies should issue a certificate of authenticity of their products.
He directed the Agriculture Information Department to upload a report on the intensity of pest attack in Punjab Cottonfield, raids on various pesticide companies and their products on its website/ social media.
He further directed to upload the cotton production plan, IPM manual, pest attack reports and the outcome of all the meetings related to cotton so far on the website.
Secretary Agriculture South Punjab Saqib Ali Ateel said that this time agriculture department of south Punjab is trying to increase the area under cotton cultivation to get good yield.
He emphasized on implementation of Pesticides Act in letter & spirit so that the blending can be reduced to a great extent.
Saqib Ali Atil told that he was personally supervising the entire cotton campaign and also visited different areas in this regard.
In this meeting, Director General Agriculture (Extension) Dr Muhammad Anjum Ali gave a detailed presentation on Zone Wise Sowing Position in Punjab, progress of Cotton Campaign 2021, Cotton Seed Subsidy, Seed Companies, Seed Traceability, IPM Model and Farmers Training Program.
Director General Agriculture (Research) Punjab Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal also gave a presentation on the district wise pest position.
