LAHORE, July 27: Sowing of cotton has been completed on 5.333 million acres in the Punjab against the target of 6.012 million acres, a meeting of the Cotton Crop Management Group was told on Saturday.

Chaudhry Abdul Ghaffar, the Agriculture Department director general (Extension) presented a district-wise report according to which 88.7 per cent of the target area was sown by 20th of this month. This is 11.65 per cent less than the corresponding period last year.

The Irrigation and Power Department’s chief engineers for Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan regions told the meeting water situation was largely satisfactory except at some canal tails. Punjab Agriculture Minister Khurshid Zaman Qureshi directed the CEs to ensure water supply at the tail-ends as well. The CEs said 676 cases of water theft in Faisalabad, 999 in Bahawalpur and 384 in Dera Ghazi Khan zone had been reported by 15th of this months and 227 arrests made.

The meeting was further informed that farmers have been asked to remove affected plants to check the spread of leaf curl virus. It noted with some satisfaction that except for Vahari and Burewala, the virus attack had not crossed the economic threshold. —Staff Reporter