LAHORE: Punjab is making efforts to promote early cotton cultivation and for the purpose it has announced Rs5,000 per acre seed subsidy for the growers.

It plans to sow early cotton at over one million acres in a bid to ensure a good cotton yield.

Of this, 380,000 acres will be in Multan division, 215,000 acres in Dera Ghazi Khan, 150,000 acres in Bahawalpur, 120,000 acres in Sahiwal and Faisalabad divisions, and 15,000 acres in Sargodha division.

Implementation of the cotton action plan is in progress, a meeting on the early cotton cultivation was briefed here on Wednesday under the chair of Agriculture Minister Ashiq Husain Kirmani.

The chief minister has announced a seed support initiative worth Rs2 billion for giving Rs5,000 per acre to the growers cultivating early cotton on five acres.

To benefit from the scheme, the farmers must be Kisan Card holders.

Mr Kirmani said the scope of the Kisan Card would be further expanded as so far 532,000 cards had been approved with Rs53.8 billion sanctioned for the initiative.

Agriculture Secretary Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said the chief minister’s Kisan Package was being implemented as per set timelines as duties had been assigned to field officers to oversee early cotton cultivation.

A massive awareness campaign was launched on Jan 16 to promote cotton cultivation, while early cotton would be cultivated from Feb 15 to April 15, he said.

The meeting was attended by Special Secretary Agha Nabeel Akhtar, Additional Secretary (Planning) Waqas Rasheed, DGs Chaudhry Abdul Hameed, Naveed Asmat Kahloon, Rana Tajammul, and other senior officials.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2025