SARGODHA: Commissioner Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti on Tuesday stressed the need for paying special attention on increasing per acre yield of cotton crop. He stated this while presiding over the meeting of the Divisional Cotton Crop Management Monitoring Committee here at his office. Deputy Commissioners of four districts participated in the meeting through video link while Director of Agriculture Shahid Hussain and other members were also present. The Commissioner said that Kisan Facilitation Centers should be made operational as per SOPs. He announced the third party audit of all facility centers. He said the government had fixed price of cotton as Rs 8500 per 40 kg while strict action would be taken against those who buy less than this rate.
Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti also stressed for observing Mega Farmer’s Day to create awareness about better care of cotton crop in all the four districts. The Commissioner directed the officers concerned to strictly monitor the teams formed to guide the cotton farmers and adopt a zero tolerance policy against those who sell fake pesticides and fertilizers. He said that full guidance should be provided to farmers regarding the ongoing recommendations for better care of cotton crop. Briefing the meeting, Agriculture Director Shahid Hussain said that cotton was sowed over 209,000 acres of land against the target of 180,000 acres in Sargodha Division.
He said that 24,233 farmers in the four districts had cultivated cotton this year, while 18 farmer facilitation centers were currently functioning in the division, where sprays, fertilizers and other agricultural related items of various companies were available in abundance at discounted rates. Similarly, 144 field teams of the agriculture department were engaged in guiding the cotton growers, he added.