99pc Target Of Cotton Cultivation Achieved In Faisalabad

In Faisalabad division, 0.116 million acres of area has been brought under cotton cultivation which is 99 per cent of the target

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th May, 2023 ) :In Faisalabad division, 0.116 million acres of area has been brought under cotton cultivation which is 99 per cent of the target.

These views were expressed by Secretary Agriculture, Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo on Friday while presiding over the meeting of Divisional Management Cotton Committee organised to review the situation of cotton cultivation in Commissioner Office Faisalabad.

Commissioner, Faisalabad Division, Salwat Saeed, Additional Secretary Agriculture Task Force Punjab Muhammad Shabir Ahmed Khan, Director General Agriculture Extension Dr. Anjum Ali, Deputy Director Agriculture Information Punjab Asif Ali, Director Agriculture Extension Faisalabad Chaudhry Abdul Hameed and other officers participated in the meeting while Deputy Commissioner Toba Tek Singh, Chaniot and Jhang participated online.

During the meeting, while giving a briefing to the participants, it was told that the target of cotton cultivation in Faisalabad division this year has been set at 0.118 million acres, of which cotton has been cultivated on an area of 0.116 million acres which is 98.9pc of the target.

Secretary Agriculture Punjab made it clear that to achieve the cotton production targets, all the relevant departments must fulfill their responsibility under National spirit. By implementing the Cotton Action Plan 2023-24, it will be possible to earn $3 billion in foreign exchange which will stabilise the country's economy, he said.

� While giving instructions, he said that availability of quality agricultural inputs in the market should be ensured during the cotton season and in this context a record of information regarding dealers of fertilizers, seeds and agro-medicines should be prepared, he said and added that this year, the Punjab government made cotton profitable for farmers by issuing a notification of Rs 8,500 support price before cotton sowing.

He said that Punjab chief minister is personally monitoring the 'Grow more cotton' campaign and announced that such divisional officers who will complete the target of cotton cultivation will be given 6 months salary and another 6 months salary as bonus for completing the cotton production target.

Apart from this, in the cotton production competition 2023-24, cash prizes will be given to the farmers who produce more at the provincial level Rs. 1.5 million and 0.8 million to the farmers who produce more at the district level, he said adding that the purpose of all these incentives is to restore cotton in the province.

In the meeting, Chief Engineer of Irrigation Department, Faisalabad Zone, Shahid Saleem also briefed the participants about the supply of canal water in the current cotton cultivation season.