SIALKOT: Bed planting of seasonal crops using a locally made machine is gaining popularity among farmers of the Sialkot region, which is also helping them to increase their per acres yield.

Wheat grower Muhammad Aslam, of village Jessarwala-Daska, has been using the bed planting machine for the last two years.

He told Dawn bed planting had helped him increase his per acre yield. He said earlier his per acre wheat yield was 50 maunds per acre but after last year he harvested 65 maunds per acre.

Another grower Sarfraz Ahmed Ghuman also called the indigenous machinery time- and energy- efficient.

Daska-based agriculture machinery manufacturer Muhammad Iqbal Mughal said the bed planter machine had helped farmers get 30 per cent more yield per acre besides saving up to 40 per cent of water.

He said the crops sown through the planting machine had shown great resistance against flooding.

Mr Mughal said the several foreign farm machinery manufacturing and exporting companies and even the foreign growers and farmers were also showing keen interest in the technology.

The machine has row spacing that can be adjusted and is tractor run. It is equipped with a feeder, a metering mechanism, a chain drive, bevel gears and rotating discs.Agriculture Department official Abdul Sami said it was an incredible way of crops sowing.

PM VIST: The visit of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to Sialkot on Monday was cancelled due to bad and rainy weather here in Sialkot.

He was to address a party workers’ convention at the residence of Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif besides meeting exporters at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2017