FAISALABAD : Agriculture experts advised the farmers to start Baharia sunflower cultivation immediately and complete it by mid of February to get bumper crop. A spokesman of the agriculture department told APP here on Monday that the best suitable time for Baharia sunflower cultivation was from January 1st to February 15. Therefore, the growers should start cultivation as last sowing could not only damage the quality of grain but also caused loss in production.
He said that the growers should cultivate approved sunflower varieties like Hi-sun-33, Hi-sun-39, Agora-4, NK-278, FH-331, DK-4040, G-101 and 64-A-93 because these varieties were disease resistant. He said that sunflower was an important edible oil producing crop which could help Pakistan to trim its import bill of edible oil. This crop took 130 days only for its maturity with comparatively less cost and very high dividend. Therefore, the government also decided to promote sunflower cultivation by providing of Rs 5000 per acre on its crops, he added.
Responding to a question, he said a number of teams of agriculture department have been activated for training and guidance of sunflower growers in Faisalabad. These teams were imparting training to the growers by arranging awareness sessions at village level.