LAHORE, Dec 11: Punjab Agriculture Minister Arshad Khan Lodhi on Sunday warned of action against those agriculture officers who failed to get wheat sowing completed in their areas by Nov 30. Talking to a group of farmers at his office, the minister said sowing should have been completed by Nov 30 as yield started sliding after that.

The agriculture officers are responsible for motivating farmers for completing sowing by that deadline. They seemed to have failed in that, and now the department would move against them, minister assured the farmers.

He also requested the farmers to complete sowing by Dec 15 so that final yield figure did not fall too low.

The minister also asked the farmers to use certified seed so that wheat production could rise beyond national consumption.

Proper use of weedicides could also help increase production by 20 to 25 per cent, he said.