He was speaking at the sowing ceremony of newly evolved wheat variety SKD-1 at the Agriculture Research Institute Sakrand on Wednesday.
He said punitive action would be taken against those found guilty of supplying low quality seeds to growers and if needed law would be amended. He also constituted a special committee, headed by the provincial Agriculture secretary, to probe into the whole affairs of sub-standard seeds and its impact on the production and submit a report with-in one week.
He said to combat the menace of sub-standard pesticides and fertiliser, the government is actively considering to delegate power to the elected representatives of the people of all democratic institutions in the country.
WATER LOSSES: He said to minimise the water losses, estimated to be around 40 percent, a gigantic project has been launched by the government to improve 29,000 watercourses in the province. "When completed, these watercourses would help in a transparent distribution of water to all stakeholders," he said.
He said: "Besides streamlining watercourses, the government is actively considering to launch a five-year drip irrigation project on cost-share basis." He said 20 percent of the cost would be paid by the growers while 80 percent would be borne by the government.
He apprehended that there would be 17 percent shortage of water during the current cropping season and advised the growers to tailor their cultivation accordingly to avoid negative impact of shortage of water.
MOBILE FLOATS: Meanwhile, two more mobile wheat seed processing and grading floats are being started for middle and upper Sindh to process and grade farmers' seed.
This has been decided after the success of one seed-processing float, which has been providing seed cleaning and grading facility to growers of lower Sindh up to Nawabshah district.
According to the post-Eid programme, the float will provide service to growers of Sanghar, Matiari, Hyderabad and Nawabshah district up to 18th November in the first round. In the second round, the seed processing float will provide service to the growers of nine districts of lower Sindh from November 19th to December 10th.
Another float would cover Moro and Naushehro Feroze while a float will be run in upper Sindh soon. The mobile wheat processing and grading service is in addition to processing plants at Tandojam, Sakrand, Kotdiji and Ghotki.
The wheat growers are charged nominal fee of Rs 10 per 40Kg. The growers have been advised to contact the Agriculture Extension Office to know about its detailed programme.