LAHORE:Punjab Agriculture Secretary Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said on Saturday that in South Punjab, more than 3.663 million acres had been brought under cotton cultivation which is 80 percent of the target.
Presiding over the cotton review meeting regarding South Punjab, he said that all resources were being utilized to achieve the target of cotton cultivation with the better coordination of all relevant departments participating in the “More Cotton Growing Campaign”, said a press release issued here.
It was told in the meeting that till now, more than 1.875 million acres had been brought under cotton cultivation in Bahawalpur division against the target of 2.314 million acres. In Dera Ghazi Khan division, 0.811 million acres against the target of 0.971 million acres, while in Multan division 0.912 million acres against 1.269 million acres had been brought under cotton cultivation.
Regarding the situation related to the availability of water for cotton crop, it was informed to Iftikhar Ali Sahoo that in some cotton cultivation areas of water was not available upto tail end due to which there was a problem in achieving set target.
On this occasion Punjab Irrigation Secretary Wasif Khurshid said that during the current year in Punjab 74,000 cusecs of canal water was available against Indent canal capacity of 96,000 cusecs.
Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that the supply of water in the canals of South Punjab during cotton cultivation was of utmost importance and added that this year Punjab Chief Minister was personally monitoring the “Grow More Cotton” campaign.