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Next shipment of sunflower seed expected by 15th

LAHORE: The next shipment of sunflower seed is expected to reach Pakistan from Australia by February 15, according to Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB) officials.

PODB plans to provide 100 tonnes of sunflower seed to the growers during the current sowing season against country's total sunflower seed requirement of 1,200 tonnes.

"The rest of the amount will be provided by the multinationals like ICI and Monsanto", provincial chief of PODB, Chaudhary Ahmad Saeed said.

He said that the PODB was providing seed at a much cheaper rates than the private firms.

Regarding the pace of the sunflower cultivation in the Punjab, he said that this non-traditional oilseed crop had been sown over an area of 75,000 acres.

The area-wise target for the sunflower cultivation in Pakistan this year is 0.5 million acres. APP