LAHORE: Punjab Min­ister for Agriculture Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi on Monday said that area under cotton cultivation in the province was 17 per cent less than the previous year at 3.161 million acres.

“Despite less area under cotton cultivation, 5.168m bales were produced and average production remained at 23.9 maund per acre. The 21pc increase in per acre production of cotton in Punjab is a welcoming sign,” the minister said.

Mr Gardezi said farmers, ginners and the textile industry were happy with the increase in cotton production as compared to last three years. “The increase in cotton production is due to the farmer friendly policies of the government and the staff of the agriculture department and farmers who burnt their midnight oil to get this increase in production this year,” he added.

The provincial minister further said that this year the government had provided approved cotton seed varieties to farmers on subsidised rates and ran an awareness campaign under the IPM programme for controlling pests which resulted in increased cotton production in Punjab.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2022