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LAHORE, Jun 26 (APP): Provincial Minister for Agriculture & Livestock Punjab, Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani, attended Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the Agriculture Department Punjab and the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) as chief guest at Agriculture House here on Thursday.
Secretary Agriculture Punjab, Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, along with senior officials and stakeholders from the public and private sectors attended the event.
The MoU was formally signed by Director General Agriculture (Extension) Punjab Chaudhry
Abdul Hameed and Dr. Muhammad Qadeer from BCI, while Hassan Akram from Food Security & Agriculture Center of Excellence (FACE) and Jaudat Ayaz (Ba-Khabar Kissan) signed the service agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
The minister said that cotton was a cash crop for Pakistan and emphasised the importance
of adopting modern agricultural practices. “The MoU will serve as a cornerstone in our strategy to improve cotton yield and increase farmer incomes,” he said.
Under the agreement, the Agriculture Department Punjab and BCI would collaborate to improve cotton productivity through initiatives such as demonstration plots, training of farmers, responsible pesticide usage, and efficient water management. The project also aims to enhance traceability and quality of cotton output to meet international market standards.
In a parallel development, a service agreement was signed between the FACE and Ba-Khabar Kissan.
Under this initiative, a digital platform powered by artificial intelligence would provide timely weather alerts, pest warnings, and productivity insights to nearly 500,000 registered Kissan Card holders. The mobile application would enable real-time monitoring and analytics for targeted decision-making.
The minister further disclosed that a comprehensive agricultural planning framework was
underway for the next fiscal year which would offer both technical and financial support to
strengthen public-private collaboration in key crop sectors, with cotton as the pilot project—later to be expanded to wheat and other major crops.
Secretary Agriculture Punjab, Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, reaffirmed the Department’s commitment
to supporting technological innovation in agriculture. He emphasised the need for a coordinated approach among stakeholders to overcome existing challenges in cotton cultivation.
Those present at the ceremony included Additional Secretary Agriculture (Task Force) Muhammad Shabbir Ahmad Khan, Director Generals Chaudhry Abdul Hameed and Naveed Asmat Kahloon, Consultant Dr. Muhammad Anjum Ali, BCI Country Director Hina Fauzia, Ba-Khabar Kissan CEO Khizar Alam, and other senior officials.