Use of low quality seeds may lead to plunge in cotton yield

26 Jun '07

2 min read

In the crop year of 2007-08, cotton import of Pakistan is growing heavily as demand from the manufacturers has increased. There is also an expected short fall of around 3.4 million bales from the set target of 15 billion bales by the federal Government.

One of the probable reasons cited for the low production is, farmers are sowing substandard quality of cotton seed.

Late completion of cotton sowing in the region of Sindh and Punjab till June 16 remained another cause for low production.

Sources revealed that some companies are allowed to sell low quality cotton seeds. These are of four varieties, pre-basic, basic, certified and approved. Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) has allowed one-time relaxation to all the public and private seed companies in the germination standards of cotton seed during Kharif season 2007.

However, provincial departments and seed corporations are authorized to take corrective measures for marketing and selling substandard seeds.

While talking about Governments effort to raise the supply of quality seeds for next season, the source divulge that, a lot of new projects have been implemented like erection of latest seed testing laboratories which will give services to the farmers at the door step at the potential area of crop.

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