LAHORE: Caretaker Provincial Minister for Agriculture, Industry and Energy SM Tanveer emphasized the need to implement modern technology and China-style model to increase cotton per acre yield.
He was presiding over a meeting through video link regarding cotton production and growth strategy at Circuit House, Multan.
In the meeting, Secretary Agriculture, Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, Secretary Agriculture, South Punjab Saqib Ali, Vice Chancellor MNS Agriculture University, Multan Dr. Asif Ali, Deputy Director Agriculture Information, Punjab Naveed Asmat Kahlon along with progressive farmers Khalid Khokhar, Syed Hasan Raza, representative of APTMA Dr. Javed, and other officers including Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Bandisha participated while Director General Agriculture Extension Dr. Muhammad Anjum Ali also participated online.
On this occasion, Secretary Agriculture, South Punjab Saqib Ali gave a briefing to Provincial Minister for Agriculture SM Tanveer and said that the decline in cotton production in Punjab has been started gradually after 2015-16 and the average production has reached 15 maunds per acre due to lack of new cotton seed technology and acquisition of pest resistance against old technology seed, especially attack of pink bollworm has reduced production by 60% in the province during the last three years.
During the briefing to SM Tanvir, he further informed that China is worldwide number one producer of cotton mainly due to new technology cotton seeds, predictive models of pest attack by using artificial intelligence and research work. In Punjab (Pakistan), more than 8 million bales of cotton can be produced by following the IPM model, the use of artificial intelligence and the China model in the province of Punjab. The project worth of 3.82 billion rupees was also discussed with Minister for Agriculture regarding increase in cotton production.
On this occasion, Provincial Minister SM Tanveer said that cotton is one of most important crops. There is a need that agricultural scientists, researchers and academia to join joint programs with international research institutions to increase cotton production. He directed to present the plan in the final form in the next two weeks by setting up a committee under the chairmanship of the vice chancellor MNS Agriculture University, Multan to carry out a technical review of the comprehensive plan for increasing the production of cotton and to present the PC1, in this regard.