LAHORE: The Punjab agriculture department claims to have developed new cotton varieties that successfully resist whitefly and pink bollworm attacks.

“Our scientists have developed new cotton varieties that not only repulse attacks of whitefly and pink bollworm but are also weed resistant,” Agriculture Minister Malik Nauman Ahmed Langrial told the media after a meeting of stakeholders here on Thursday.

The breakthrough, he said, made after around two decades would not only help increase crop yield but also reduce production cost by at least 50 per cent.

The basic role in the development of the varieties was played by the Centre of Excellence for Molecular Biology (CEMP) of the Punjab University that identified and separated genes that resist attacks of the two pests and distributed the seedlings among various public and private sector institutions for trial and multiplication of the seed.

Mr Langrial claims the varieties have successfully completed their tests and are now waiting for approval of the federal seed certification body as well as the ministry of climate change.

He hopes that the approval process will be completed shortly and the seeds may be introduced next cotton season that starts from mid-April.

The minister tells Dawn that seed for at least 500,000 acres will be made available for the 2021-22 cotton season and for more than one million acres for 2022-23.

Technical experts, however, believe that the new seed will be available to the farmers after two years despite all efforts of the department as, they say, climate impact test results need at least two years.

Earlier during the meeting, private sector and government agricultural scientists briefed the minister about the varieties which may be submitted to the Punjab Seed Council for early approval on the basis of data.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2020