LAHORE, Oct 11: Punjab Governor Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool (retired) has emphasized the need to adopt a concordant agricultural development strategy in all the provinces on scientific footing.

The governor was exchanging views with Sindh Minister for Food and Agriculture Arif Mustafa Khan Jatoi at the Governor’s House here on Saturday.

The strategy would help cultivators to usher an era of progress and prosperity through increasing per acre yield of agricultural produce in Pakistan, the governor added.

He said the economic growth of the country was largely dependent on the betterment of our agrarian society which comprises 70 per cent of the total population.

Khalid Maqbool supported the proposal given by Arif Jatoi for simultaneous announcement of the support price for the wheat crop in the Punjab and Sindh provinces at an appropriate time so that maximum number of farmers could get benefit in this regard.

Minister Jatoi apprised Governor Maqbool of the impact of current torrential rains on the sugar cane and cotton crops in Sindh.

He said that the Sindh government was promoting the cultivation of supper basmati rice in the province.

The requirement of quality seed for this purpose was being met through active collaboration between the Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku, Lahore, and the Rice Research Institute, Dokri, in Larkana district, the Sindh minister said.—APP