MULTAN: Scientists have successfully developed a new technology that will help farmers sow rice without water. The recent development would be helpful for the farming community facing water crisis.
These views were expressed by Provincial Agriculture Secretary Muhammad Mahmud on Friday.
The minister said the new technology would bring revolution in agriculture sector and will prove vital in reducing costs of sowing crops to a great extent.
He added, “Our scientists are among the world’s best and they have achieved a milestone in a short span of time.” He maintained the new development gave a new life to the agriculture sector.
Earlier, in view of water scarcity in some areas, farmers adopted drip irrigation system to sow crops. This system is suitable for crop cultivation when irrigation water or rainwater is not enough for conventional farming. This technology, so far, has been adopted by many farmers across Punjab owing to acute shortage of river water and limited rains.
Keeping in view its high efficacy in conserving water, increasing per acre yield and reducing cost of cultivation, there is a need to create awareness among farmers about the drip irrigation system. With this technology, the farmers could save 60% electricity and diesel costs augmenting per acre yield by 100%.
However, the farmers are unable to adopt this water-saving technology due to its high installation cost. The government is helping farmers adopt this system by providing drip irrigation equipment at subsidized rates.
Meanwhile, the agriculture department decided to launch an annual management programme worth Rs227.610 million to control fruit fly attack on mango, guava and citrus orchards.
A spokesperson of agriculture department said the project would cover 50,000-acre of orchards in Punjab, including 20,000 acres of mango orchards, 26,500 acre of citrus orchards and 3,500 acre guava orchards.
