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The Punjab secretary for food and agriculture has contended that BT cotton
variety, to be released by the government this year, would not match the
yield of already existing unapproved varieties of the crop, March 2007 by
Aftab Maken.


?Eleven companies are providing unapproved BT cotton varieties in Punjab
and the farmers are getting over 50 maunds yield per acre from these
varieties,? said Secretary Agriculture Ministry Punjab Fiaz Bashir.

He was speaking during a meeting of the National Assembly?s Standing
Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday with Makhdoom Ahmed Alam Anwar in the
chair.

Federal Secretary Agriculture Ismail Qureshi informed the committee that the
Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and the environment ministry
were working on a fast track and the government would release BT cotton
variety during the current year.

Lashing out at the federal agriculture ministry, Chairman of the Committee
Makhdoom Ahmed Alam Anwar said the ministry had failed even to release one
variety of BT cotton.

?India has introduced 40 varieties of BT cotton while Pakistan has not
released a single variety,? he said, adding it seemed the ministry had not
taken the issue seriously in the past.

[www.thenews.com.pk]