The Punjab Agriculture Department (PAD) has fixed a target of sowing sunflower on 210,000 acres of land across the province for the season 2018-19. Pakistan import edible oil worth Rs300 billion per annum, which is a big burden on the national economy and the provincial agriculture department, is trying to promote sowing of oil bearing crops to minimize import.

The government is also providing a subsidy of Rs5,000 per acre to farmers who will sow sunflower, said a spokesman here on Tuesday. The spokesman said that the department has also launched a series of workshops and seminars to update the growers with latest technology of sunflower crop.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019