MULTAN, Oct 20: A subsidy will be provided for the use of farm tubewells in the areas with sweet subsoil water in order to sow wheat on as much area as possible this year.
Punjab Agriculture Secretary Arif Nadeem said this while presiding over a meeting of agriculture officials of the six districts of former Multan division here on Wednesday.
The secretary announced that the availability of irrigation water would be ensured for the wheat crop during its four vital stages up to ripening of the grains. He claimed that the earlier water shortage of 58 per cent in the province against its demand for the wheat crop had now decreased to 44 per cent due to micro-management measures.
He said water would be discharged by Oct 24 into the canals flowing through the wheat growing areas. He said the government had launched a 'grow more wheat' campaign, and hoped that 60 per cent of the wheat sowing target would be achieved by Nov 30.
He urged the growers to use only the certified and graded seed for wheat sowing.
BRICK-LINING: Another instalment of funds has been released to the Punjab for brick-lining of water channels under the national programme for water courses.
This was stated by programme's federal project director Nasir Mahmood Khosa while presiding over a meeting here on Wednesday.
He said the second instalment released to the Punjab was of Rs750 million while the first was of Rs300 million. He said the first instalment had been distributed among the districts in the province while the second would soon be disbursed to carry out the task of brick-lining of water channels.
He said further release of funds was subjected to the successful completion of the current schemes.
