MULTAN: Agriculture experts have advised farmers to begin sunflower sowing for spring season from Dec 1, 2023 and complete the process by Jan 31, 2024 in south Punjab to gain maximum yield from the vitamin rich food crop that carry 40-45 per cent oil content.
In a statement issued here Wednesday, agriculture spokesman said that Pakistan spend a whopping Rs 300 billion every year to import edible oil to meet the food needs at home adding that government was encouraging farmers to opt for oil seed crops to lessen dependence on imported edible oil and save resources.
Spokesman said that sunflower contains vitamins A, B, E and K and experts want farmers to sow this nutrition rich oil seed crop from Dec 1 to Jan 31 in south Punjab districts including Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Vehari, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Lodhran, Bakhar and Khanewal.
Farmers should use hybrid varieties of 90 per cent germination strength at the rate of two kilogram per acre and maintain plant
population at 22000-23000 per acre. The spokesman recommended varieties for sowing including Hisun-33, T-40318, Agora-4, S-278, NKR Mini, and Orasen-648, 516, 675, 701, 741, and 751 and Parsen-3.
Experts said that in time sowing of sunflower was critically important pleading that delay can compromise production volume. They said that spring crop of sunflower gives comparatively higher production and advised farmers to prefer its sowing.