Thursday, May 23, 2013 – Multan
Cotton sowing has been completed over an area of 235,343 acre in Multan district meeting around 53 per cent sowing against a target of 441,000 acre set for the on-going cotton season.
District Officer Agriculture Yousuf Hassan Tatla said in a meeting here Wednesday that late wheat harvest and changing weather conditions delayed cotton sowing, however, added that cotton sowing target would be achieved in Multan by May 31. Giving tehsil-wise sowing break-up, he said cotton had been sown over 42,970 acre in Shujabad, 53,057 acre in Jalalpur Pirwala and 139,314 acre in Multan.
The DO agriculture advised growers to complete sowing by May 31 for better per acre yield. He advised growers willing to sow Bt varieties that they should also cover ten per cent of their area by non-Bt cotton varieties so that pests do not develop resistance against Bt varieties. Growers should sow registered and healthy seed having 60 per cent germination strength and it should be treated with some suitable pesticides before sowing to keep it safe from sucking pests, including white fly and Jassid for a month.
For safety against white fly which carries CLCV virus, growers should double the pesticides application to seeds from five gram per kilogram of seed to 10 gram per kilogram of seed.—APP (Source: Pakistan Observer)