MULTAN, Nov 25: Punjab Agriculture Secretary Javed Iqbal Awan has directed the department officials to complete 80 per cent target of wheat sowing by the end of this month.

Presiding over a meeting of the Multan division officials here on Tuesday, Mr Awan said: “There is a need to increase the wheat sowing area and per acre yield because despite being an agricultural country wheat import is a burden on the economy.”

He said raids on shops of pesticide dealers would continue to ensure the availability of adulteration-free pesticides to farmers in the province. He directed cancellation of the licences of dealers involved in adulteration.

He said awareness should be raised among farmers to use helpline for complaints against adulteration and overcharging.

He directed to make the village lab programme effective with the help of field assistants.

Earlier, the officials briefed Mr Awan that wheat sowing target for Multan division was fixed at two million acres and the department was providing the facilities of laser-leveller and seed grading to the farming community, while the Punjab Seed Corporation had prepared 837,000 seed bags of 50 kilo for wheat sowing.