Current rains boost prospects of good wheat crop

The current spell of heavy rains would have positive impact especially on wheat crop sown over 8.8 million hectare and would also help boost production of pulses like grams, moong, vegetables alongwith oil seeds cultivated over a large acreage in Sindh province.
Wheat Development Commissioner, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MinFA) Dr Shakeel Ahmed Khan told Business Recorder here on Monday that the rains would help boost production of major Rabi crops. He said that the Barani areas (arid areas) of Potohar region, 10 districts of Punjab including, Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Chakwal, Gujraat, Sialkot, Narowal, Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakkar and Layyah would mostly benefit from the recent rains. He said that it would help enhance the crop output in arid areas as the wheat sowing in irrigated areas registered negative growth due to devastating floods, which caused server losses to agriculture sector last year.
He was of the view that due to heavy rains in the plains and snowfall over the hilly areas water level would increase in the soil as well as in the dams which would significantly enhance the production of wheat, pulses and vegetables in the country.
The government has fixed wheat production target at 25 million tons for the ongoing year and arid areas have the capacity to produce over 2.5 million tons with timely rainfall.
The Wheat Commissioner informed that this year wheat has been sown over 8.8 million hectares, which is 3.5 per cent less as compared to last year. Wheat crop has been sown on 6.68 million hectares in Punjab, while in the Sindh about 1.08 million hectares are under wheat, he said.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) wheat has been sown over 0.73 million hectares and in Baluchistan it was cultivated over 0.32 million hectare. He advised the farmers to regularly monitor their crops and use proper pesticides and uproot weeds to enhance per acre yield to make the country self-reliant in food. It may be recalled that according to Met Office Islamabad, more rain with isolated heavy snowfall over the hilly areas, is expected in most parts of the country.
The scattered rains with snowfall in Azad Kashmir, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan washed away the dust and brought hope for farmers. The much-awaited rain spell has also raised hope for a healthy wheat crop in the Barani areas. The downpour, which started on Friday and continued till Monday has brought a pleasant change in the atmosphere. According to agriculture experts, these rains are beneficial for wheat crop and would have positive affect on the entire region, which is dependent on rain for the wheat crop.