Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Pakistan Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote profitable cotton cultivation techniques from boll to bail in a way that it does not hurt natural habitat of wildlife
MULTAN, (agrinfobank.com.pk – 22nd May, 2018 ) :Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) pakistan Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote profitable cotton cultivation techniques from boll to bail in a way that it does not hurt natural habitat of wildlife.
CCRI Multan director Dr. Zahid Mahmood and WWF-Pakistan senior manager Asad Imran signed the MoU in a simple ceremony here, CCRI spokesman said in a statement. Head of fibre technology section CCRI Multan Muhammad Ilyas said that WWF had been working on a variety of initiatives mainly focused on environment conservation.
Agriculture practices has an impact on environment and sensing that cotton was one of the most cultivated crops, WWF registered over 100,000 cotton farmers under its various programmes to enlighten them on how to adopt practices that are not only high yielding but also keep environment safe.
For example, CCRI and WWF experts can tell farmers that they can reduce pesticides application to avoid harm to friendly pests and the environment. CCRI also has a large number of cotrton farmers registered with it.
Director CCRI Dr. Zahid Mahmood said, the joint venture would enable experts from both sides to address a larger segment of cotton farmers in Pakistan to guide them on cotton crop’s modern and profitable technology, their training for picking, ginning and maintaining fibre quality and publishing material in the form of pamphlets and booklets.
Under MoU CCRI would extend technical support to WWF to promote modern agriculture practices that are safer for natural habitat of wildlife. The initiative would hopefully help address issues behind low cotton cultivated area recorded last year.
WWF-Pakistan senior manager Asad Imran promised cooperation to address cotton-related issues of the country and improve environment for wildlife.