HYDERABAD, Aug 23: The cotton ginning charges for the current ginning season has been fixed at Rs335 per three maunds of seed cotton (phutti). The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held here on Monday under the chairmanship of provincial agriculture secretary, Mr Nazar Hussain Mahar, which was also attended by Mr Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president, Sindh Abadgar Board, Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah, president Sindh Chamber of Agriculture and the representatives of ginners, TCP and officers of agriculture extension department.

It was also decided that no deduction will be made except for those that are provided in the Cotton Control Act for various contamination levels.

This year, cotton crop has been sown on 6.41 lakh hectares and picking has started in lower Sindh. The area and production targets for cotton crop have been fixed at 6.38 lakh hectares and 3.2 million bales respectively. The meeting recalled that Sindh province produced record cotton of 3 million bales last year.

The secretary called upon ginners to improve their ginning factories with installation of pre-cleaning and post-cleaning machinery, frequent replacement of saw gins, better storage facilities and make proper payment to growers who bring contamination-free cotton.

The secretary directed that a cell should be created in the agriculture extension department to suggest and guide for replacement of old ginning machinery.

It was informed at the meeting that the Sindh Seed Corporation is being revitalized to produce quality seed of various crops. The growers representatives welcomed the decision for the revival of Seed Corporation and complained about the low quality and high cost seed provided by private sector companies.

A detailed plan was presented for production of basic and certified seed by the Foundation Seed Cell and Sindh Seed Corporation.

It was also decided that a committee would be constituted to check the weighing bridges, for weighing cotton so that prices are paid according to the weight.

In another meeting with the officers of different wings of the department, the secretary agriculture directed to maintain strict financial discipline and ensure correct utilization of funds provided for the development of agriculture sector of the province.

Tractor: Fateh Group of Industries has started the production (assembly) of Hero Belarus tractor and the key of the first tractor was handed over to Mukhtar Ali Zardari at an impressive ceremony held at its factory late Monday evening.

Introducing the tractor, the general manager of Hero Motors, Mr Shahid Pervez said that the Fateh Group, which was providing jobs to thousands of people and was also earning huge foreign exchange for the country has added another feather to its cap by installing the much needed tractor plant at Hyderabad.