Pakistan approved general cultivation of new crops varieties

45th meeting of Punjab Seed Council (PSC) held on Thursday, 7th January, 2016 at Agriculture House, Lahore, Pakistan chaired by the Secretary Agriculture Muhammad Sheharyar Sultan. This meeting  was convened  for the approval of new varieties of different crops for general cultivation. In this meeting nine new varieties of different crops including three maize varieties and one variety each of wheat, green pea, ground nut, sorghum, seedless kinnow, mong beans and canola were approved. The Punjab Agriculture Secretary also constituted a sub-committee for complete review of cases of 19 BT cotton and 2 Non-BT cotton varieties and 11 varieties of mangoes. The Secretary of the Seed Council will head this committee which, after thorough analysis submit recommendations to the provincial secretary agriculture. The Chairman of Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) Nawab Shahad Ali Khan urged the farmers to grow latest high yielding approved varieties to make country self-sufficient in agricultural commodities. He aspired that cotton production of the Punjab would considerably enhance through cultivation of BT varieties, which have effective resistance against Bollworms, virus etc.