MULTAN - Punjab agriculture department has urged farmers to take special care of cotton during picking, its storage and transportation to market.
Assistant director information agriculture Naveed Asmat Kohloon said the standard of Pakistani cotton was acknowledged in the entire world. He suggested farmers to start picking cotton when 50 percent of cotton fruit gains maturity.
The cotton picked from infected or immature fruits should be kept away from healthy cotton, he proposed and urged them to start picking cotton near 10:00 am, in order to reduce impact of dew. Dry cotton guaranteed quality and offer more returns to farmers, Naveed said.
The picked cotton should be stored at dry place otherwise moisture would damage it, he said and added that cotton pickers should also be issued special instructions and they should lined-up for better picking.
The duration for second picking should be nearly two to three weeks. Keep cotton away from plastic pieces, cigarette, hairs or some other sorts of daily used material because these impurities damage quality of cotton, he added.