HYDERABAD, July 12: Experts of the Sindh agriculture department have found that plants were dwarfed in some fields in four districts of the province.

In a statement issued here on Monday, a spokesman for the department said that the causes of the damage were drought, water shortage and mismanagement.

He advised cotton growers to apply nitrogenous fertilizer immediately to the crop affected by the stunted growth. The spokesman said that a six-member team surveyed the cotton crop in Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar districts and found no other serious problem with it.

There was no sign of reddening of leaves or wilting, he said. The statement said that some plant samples of the affected crop from Matiari, Shahdadpur and Sanghar were collected and sent to laboratory for pathological analysis.

He said that the stunted growth was also attributed to a lack of deep ploughing, long irrigation intervals, early sowing and low fertilizer application. In Sanghar district, he said, some fields were affected by the CLCV.

The cause of which was use of unapproved varieties. He said that there was no serious problem of pest activity in surveyed areas as pests were much below the economic injury level. He advised growers to monitor their crop and if pest reaches economic injury level, it should be sprayed after consulting agriculture extension officers of the area.

He said that cotton was sown on 582,542 hectares upto June 30, against the target of 590,000 hectares whereas the last year, the crop was sown on 561,000 hectares. The spokesman said that the main cause for decreased sowing was a shortage of water particularly at the time of sowing and added that overall crop condition was quite satisfactory.

Meanwhile, the Sindh agriculture department fixed ginning charges for the cotton crop of 2004-05 at Rs270 per three maunds of phutty. According to a notification contravention of the decision is punishable under section 26(2) of the Cotton Control (Sindh Amendment) Act 1975, with imprisonment of either description which may extend to two years or fine of Rs25,000 or both.

PPL Privatization: Federal Privatization and Investment Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said that small investors will be given preference in purchase of shares of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited during the course of its privatization.