A target to sow cotton over 6.178 million acres has been given to the Punjab Agriculture Department, in a bid to produce 976,000 bales of cotton during 2010-11 Kharif season, which is around 1 million bales more, than last year's produce.
A meeting of Cotton Crop Management Group, chaired by Agriculture Minister, Malik Ahmad Ali Aulak, was recently held, to appraise the progress of cotton sowing in South Punjab, informed a spokesman from Punjab Agriculture Department.
The meeting observed that, almost 86 percent of cotton sowing has been finished so far, but, it has been sown on less acreage in Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur districts.
This year, the country would face 31 percent shortage of water, informed D.G. Khan, Chief Engineers Irrigation, Bahawalpur, Multan and Faisalabad divisions, while briefing the meeting about water in-flows in the irrigation canals of South Punjab. However, they expect that, availability of water will rise in the next week.
In accordance with this, Dr Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture Extension said that, if the water in-flow in the irrigation canals improves, it would help achieve the target of sowing cotton over 6.178 million acres.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India