MULTAN: Secretary Agriculture Punjab Wasif Khursheed said Friday that a cotton research station would soon be established in Rajanpur district to improve cotton crop quality and increase per acre production.
He was speaking at a Cotton Crop Management Group (CCMG) meeting at Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan with Caretaker Minister for Agriculture Sardar Tanvir Ilyas in the chair.
Farmers’ welfare was a top priority of the government and crop-friendly initiatives of the government improved agriculture growth rate up to 3.81 per cent in a year only, he said.
Wasif said that many steps were being taken to cut down the cost of cultivation for farmers.
Fertilizers controllers and pesticides inspectors were collecting samples from markets on regular basis to ensure availability of quality products.
He said that so far 165 FIRs have been got registered and 87 accused involved in substandard pesticides business have been arrested. And fake pesticides worth over Rs32 million was taken into custody, he added.
He added that fertilizers controllers arrested twelve accused during five raids in 2018 and recovered substandard fertilizers valuing over Rs1.9 million.
He said that crop insurance scheme has been launched for the farmers and its first phase was witnessing insurance coverage to cotton and paddy crops of farmers in Lodhran, Rahimyar Khan, Sahiwal and Sheikhupura.
The provincial government would pay 100 per cent premium of crop insurance in case of farmers owning land up to 5 acres and 50 per cent premium in case of landholding of 5 to 25 acres.
To keep cotton crop safe against threats posed by monsoons, work on a pilot project worth Rs60 million has been completed.
