BAHAWALPUR: Punjab Agriculture Minister Malik Nauman Ahmed Langrial has announced incentives for the agriculturists sowing sunflower to meet the growing need of the edible oil in the country.

According to a press release issued by the agriculture department here on Tuesday, the minister while presiding over a seminar on the topic of profitable cultivation of sunflower said it was a challenge to meet the requirements of edible oil for people across the province.

He regretted that the country was annually spending a massive amount annually to import about 88pc of the edible oil while our annual production was only 12pc.

He said to encourage the cultivation of edible oil in the country, the Punjab government has decided to grant subsidy to the cultivators of Rs5,000 per acre.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2018