Pakistan expects bumper yield of cotton crops this year with China’s help: Official

Faisalabad: Pakistan is expecting a bumper yield of cotton crops this year with the help of China, a senior official said.

Deputy Director (DD) Agriculture (Extension) Chaudhry Khalid Mehmood said that the early cultivation of cotton crops would give bumper yield and play a pivotal role to stabilize the national economy.

Addressing a farmers’ day function in Tandlianwala here, he mentioned that cotton was a precious cash crop which not only provided raw material to the local textile, ginning and ghee industries but also played its active role in enhancing national textile exports and fetching precious foreign exchange for stabilizing national economy.

Mehmood mentioned that China had provided much needed assistance to improve the cotton production.

He said that early cotton cultivation would give maximum production and help the growers to mitigate their financial constraints as the early cultivated crops would not witness pest attacks and severity of seasonal diseases.

He stressed that the best time for early cotton cultivation was from February 15 to March 31. Therefore, the growers should ensure early cotton cultivation over maximum space in their fields after harvesting canola and sugarcane crops and use quality seed of hybrid and approved varieties including CKC-5, CKC-6, Hatf-3, Ghauri-2 and ICS-386, he added.

Mehmood advised the growers to use 4 to 6 kg seed per acre and apply pesticide and fungicide to the seed before sowing it. The farmers should use 2 bags of Diammonium phosphate (DAP), 1.5 bag of SOP and 4.25 bags of Urea fertilizers per acre at the time of cultivation while first watering should be ensured within 3 to 4 days after sowing.

Mehmood said that agriculture department had formed 31 teams with a task to guide and persuade the farmers for early cotton cultivation.

The farmers should use latest technology for cultivation and in this connection, they should also consult agriculture experts from nearest agriculture department, he added.