Cotton Research Station to come up in Pakistan's Lasbela

16 May '14

2 min read

The Ministry of Textile Industry, Government of Pakistan, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences (LUAWMS), to establish a Cotton Research Station at Lasbela, a coastal district in Balochistan province of Pakistan.

The MoU was signed by Dr. Khalid Abdullah, Cotton Commissioner/ Vice President, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) and Dr. Dost Mohammad, Vice Chancellor of LUAWMS, earlier this month, according to a Ministry of Textile Industry press release.

As per the MoU, LUAWM will provide 50 acres of research area and office space for the Cotton Research Station, whereas PCCC will construct the office and labs and develop the research area for cotton cultivation. The University will also facilitate the PCCC in other activities such as farmers’ training, etc.

The Cotton Commissioner stated that Lasbela being a coastal area has a conducive environment for extra long staple cotton cultivation and the virgin land is also best-suited for organic cotton production. The value addition will enhance the net farmer’s income and play a vital role in socio economic uplift of the province.

PCCC is also planning to train the field officers of Lasbela district in cotton production in addition to earlier arranged training for Balochistan that took place in February 2014.

Dr. Dost Mohammad said that he hoped that the Research Center will serve the cotton growers of the area by solving their cotton production and plant protection related issues.

Giving a brief about the short-term plan, Dr. Abdullah said that PCCC is in the process of hiring 40 scientists in various agricultural disciplines and would depute one new and one experienced scientist to establish the Research Station at Lasbela.

He informed that new varieties will be tested at the station and farmer’s field for future recommendation of best performing varieties. Extra long and long staple cotton varieties will be tested and cotton seed production will be evaluated for local seed production, he added.

A farmers training program will also be arranged for improved cotton production technology. At the moment over 100,000 bales of cotton are being produced by Lasbela district and it is expected that this research station will increase the productivity by 10 times to one million bales in three years by horizontal and vertical expansion.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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