Farmers warned of pest, viral attacks on sugarcane crop

The Met Office has warned the farmers of pest and viral attacks on sugarcane crop following the recent rains, and urged them for timely precautionary measures. "Pest/viral attacks are expected after recent rains on sugarcane crop," Met Office said here on Saturday. It asked that farmers of Southern Punjab and Sindh to prepare land for cotton with a view to procure best grains. It said that wheat crop was fully matured in the agricultural plains of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
"Wheat crop harvesting and threshing have completed in the agricultural plains of Sindh and adjoining areas of southern Punjab. Farmers are therefore advised to harvest the full matured crop keeping the expected rains in mind," Met Office advised. Wheat obtained after threshing should be stored with a proper treatment so that the grains could be kept for long time without any loss due to the present and expected moist conditions, it said.
"During the harvesting process, farmers are advised to be aware about the weather conditions and keep listening and watching carefully the weather predictions issued through radio and television," it said. Farmers should control further weeds growth at the present growing stages to stop any negative impact over the crops, it said, asking that farmers should start practices to get rid of the unwanted plants. "Farmers of upper half and northwest Balochistan should be careful about irrigation and spraying chemicals on the crops during or before expected rains," it added.
Mainly hot and dry weather is forecast for most parts of the Punjab with light to moderate rainfall in Rawalpindi and Gujranwala on May 25, and at few places in Sargodha, Bhakkar and Mianwali on May 29. In Sindh, weather is expected to continue hot and dry in most parts of the province with light rain at few places in Sukkur and Jacobabad on May 25. Weather is expected mainly dry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with light to moderate rainfall at few places in Hazara, Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar Division.
Mostly hot and dry weather is expected in most parts of the Balochistan however light to moderate rain is expected at few places of the province including Kalat, Khuzdar, Zhob, Quetta on May 25 and May 29. Rain-thunderstorm is expected in most parts of the Gilgit-Baltistan. Mainly dry weather is expected in most parts of the Kashmir however rain-thunderstorm is expected at Muzzafarabad and Rawalakot.