Farmers advised to remove weeds from sunflower crops timely

FAISALABAD: Farmers have been advised to take appropriate measures for timely removal of weeds from sunflower crops to get bumper crop. A spokesman for the agriculture (extension) department said on Monday that sunflower crops were cultivated twice in a year mostly in Punjab and Sindh. The spring crop is sown during January-February while autumn cultivation is completed during July-August. He said that presence of weeds in sunflower crops was injurious to the growth of plants as it usurps the water, fertilizers, and other ingredients of soil. Responding to a query, the spokesman told reporter that sunflower was an important edible oil producing crop which could help Pakistan to trim its import bill of edible oil as its seeds had 35-55% oil contents. The crop takes 130 days only for its maturity with comparatively less cost and very high dividend. He said that a number of teams of agriculture department had been activated for training and guidance of sunflower growers in Faisalabad. The teams are imparting training to the sunflower growers by arranging awareness sessions at village level. The field staff of agriculture department was also helping and guiding farmers in purchasing sunflower seeds and its in-time cultivation, he added.