Secretary Agriculture Punjab, Iftikhar Ali Sahu, said on Saturday that implementation on cotton action plan 2023-24 would make possible to obtain 3 billion dollars foreign exchange.
Cultivation of cotton on a large area was a challenging task for which the district administration, agriculture department and other stakeholders are working together.
Secretary Agriculture Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahu expressed these views while presiding over the review meeting held at Commissioner’s office Dera Ghazi Khan regarding cotton cultivation.
Commissioner DG Khan division, Dr Nasir Mahmood, DCs DG Khan, Layyah, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur, Director General Agriculture Extension Punjab Dr. Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture Pest Warning Rana Faqir Ahmed, and other officials were present.
Secretary agriculture further said that 9,71,000 acres area was being brought under cotton cultivation across DG Khan division for which district administration is providing full support to agriculture department field staff so that the desired targets of cotton cultivation and production could be achieved.
He directed the irrigation department to ensure availability of canal water during cotton cultivation so that cotton sowing could be completed on time.
Secretary also asked the Agriculture Extension and Pest Warning department to provide technical guidance and support to the farmers by going into the field and to compile data of all farmers.
He further said that provincial government has taken several practical steps under the historical package of cotton revival which would prove profitable for the farmers.
Mr Sahu announced that establishment of facilitation centres at tehsil level and cotton production competitions 2023 would also be organized and cash rewards would be offered to growers over high cotton production at provincial and district level to encourage them.
He directed the Cotton committees headed by Deputy Commissioners to hold weekly meetings regularly at district level and solved the problems faced in cotton cultivation immediately.
He proposed to appoint students of training institutes to meet the shortage of field staff during cotton season.
