Lahore: The Punjab government has launched a five-year programme to raise productivity in 15 rice-growing districts of the province at a cost of PKR 6.63 billion – a news source reported. The programme has been launched under the ‘Agriculture Emergency’ initiative – a national programme for enhancing profitability of agricultural sector.
Under the said initiative, special attention would be geared
towards the promotion of mechanized farming. Efforts will also be made to
ensure that best varieties of rice are sown in a timely manner.
Manual transplanting will be replaced by mechanized transplanting of rice nurseries. The project is being carried out in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Okara, Hafizabad, Nankana Sahib, Bahawalnager, Jhang, Narowal, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Chiniot, Gujrat, Lahore, and Faisalabad districts. In these districts, both Basmati and other varieties of rice will be cultivated over an area of 70,000 acres.
The government will also provide cultivators with a variety
of rice transplanters, nursery raising machine, direct seedling drills, rice
straw choppers, water tight rotators and knapsack power sprayers.
