HYDERABAD, Sept 16: Adviser to the Sindh chief minister for food and agriculture Mir Murtaza Jatoi has said that there is a need to introduce new varieties of cotton that require less water and are pest resistant.

He was speaking at a workshop at the Sakrand Central Cotton Research Institute on Thursday as a chief guest.

The workshop was held to discuss ways to increase cotton production in Sindh.

He said that the federal and provincial research institutes would submit 13 new varieties of cotton to the federal government for approval to start their cultivation in the province.

The adviser said that the Sindh Seed Corporation should produce quality seeds to increase the growth of cotton and there should be no compromise on the quality.

If necessary the SSC should be privatized to work effectively, he said. He said that 3.5 million bales had been fixed as the cotton production target against the last year’s target of three million bales, which had been crossed by Sindh.

On the complaints of the participants of the workshop, the adviser directed the agriculture secretary to reactivate the field assistants.

Mr Jatoi said that the union council nazims would submit the performance report of the field assistants whose salaries would be linked to their performance.

The workshop was informed that five varieties of cotton from the Sakrand Research Institute, four varieties from the Tandojam institute and another four varieties of cotton from the Nuclear Institute of Agriculture, Tandojam, will be introduced during the current year.

Those who also spoke on the occasion were Provincial Secretary for Agriculture Nazar Mohammad Mahar, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee Vice President Ibad Badar Siddiqi, Sindh Agriculture Research Director General Haji Khan Keerio, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture President Qamaruzzaman Shah, and Sindh Abadgar Board President Abdul Majeed Nizamani.

SEMINAR: The chief manager and district chairman of the Bankers’ Institute, State Bank of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Sher Alam Khan has said that a lot of changes had occured in the banking system over the past few years and many new products had been introduced in the market which had increased pressure and competition.

He was speaking at a seminar on “branch banking operations” organised by the Institute of Bankers here on Thursday.

A large number of bankers and members of the business community attended the function.

He pointed out that the customers’ loans were an administrative risk and branch banking operations should be improved to cover that risk.

Mr Khan said the branch manager should have thorough knowledge of the Islamic banking, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and consumer banking.