LAHORE, May 7: The government has set cotton target of 14.1 million bales for the next year, says Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikander Hayat Bosan.

Talking to newsmen after inaugurating a workshop on “Drip Irrigation”, here on Monday, the minister said the cotton vision would be launched this year aimed at enhancing cotton production.

The cotton production had fallen to 12.5 million bales last year, dropping from 14.6 million bales in 2004-05. This year, the yield had gone up to 13 million bales and the country would easily cross 14 million bales next year, he hoped.

The minister said that 50 per cent of watercourses would be lined by June this year, which would restore around two million acre feet of water. He said that the government wanted to build new dams, but do so with consensus.

Taking about drip irrigation, he said that a pilot project had been launched to install system at 300,000 acres. The government was bearing 80 per cent of installation cost. The provincial governments had told to identify areas for installing the system, he added.