ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Textile Industry has started a training programme for cotton growers about pest control and crop management to enhance the cash crop output in the country.
About 5,000 progressive farmers and workers of field extension departments of the provincial agriculture departments would be trained initially about the pest control and crop management, said Cotton Commissioner Dr. Khalid Abdullah.
Talking to APP, he said, in first phase of the training programme about 5,000 cotton farmers across the crop growing areas would be trained and the numbers would be multiplied in next phase of the programme.
The main objective of the programme was the capacity development of local farmers against the pest attacks on cotton crop and usage of proper pesticides in proper quantity to control the outbreak, he added.
The other aim of the training was to train the farmers and field extension workers about the crop management to enhance per acre crop production and minimizing the input cost, he added. He informed that Ministry of Textile Industry had already trained about 5,000 cotton farmers about climate change and control of pink bollworm attack on crop.
Dr Abdullah said that cotton production target was revised to 11.272 million bales for current sowing season as against the set targets of 14.5 million bales for the crop season of 2016-17.However, he said that second meeting of Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) would be held here by the end of current month to access the crop volume during the season.
He said that white fly and pink bollworm attack on crop was reported from the fields as compared to last year, however, it was under control to better crop and pest management.
