Over 95 percent wheat sowing target achieved in Punjab: Aulakh

The Punjab Agriculture Department has so far successfully achieved 95 percent wheat sowing against a total target of 16.89 million acres of land in the province.
Agriculture Minister Punjab Ahmad Ali Aulakh told APP on Sunday said that overall an area of 16 million acres of land had so far been brought under wheat cultivation in rainfed zone of Rawalpindi division, rice mixed zone, cotton zone and other areas of the 35 districts of province.
He said Jhelum, Khushab, Bhakkar, Jhang, T.T Singh, Narowal, Sheikhupura, Okara, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Multan, Khanewal, Layyah, DG Khan and Bahawalpur districts would definitely surpass the 100 percent target while other districts except Chakwal and Attock, had achieved of 86 percent target.
He hoped that overall target would be achieved by the end of first week of instant month after the completion of delay sowing of wheat in few areas of some districts.
He said that Rawalpindi, Jhelum and Gujranwala districts had been ranked the best for achieving 122 percent, 118 percent and 106 percent target of wheat cultivation, respectively.
He said first time in the country's history, all desirous farmers were being granted on the spot loans on easy terms under one window operation. The minister said that subsidy of billions of rupees was given to the growers for the purchase of agriculture implement, including tractors.
Ahmad Ali Aulakh said on the special directive of Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, fertilizers (Phosphatic and Nitrogenous) essential for wheat sowing had been made available to all farmers at their doorsteps. He hoped that production target would be met through proper crop management and plant protection.
He said under plant protection programme, seeds were treated before sowing with confider/pestidor and steps were also taken at Tahsil level to check adulteration. He said that plant protection measures were being taken according to the pest and disease situation by adopting integrated pest management approach.
Ahmad Ali Aulakh said weeds cause damage to wheat crops considerably and a campaign would be launched to control it by motivating the farmers to adopt both culturable and chemical methods.
He said efforts were also being made to bring as much as possible cultivable waste land lying in different parts of the province especially the Riverine areas for increasing wheat production through horizontal expansion of acreage.
When contacted Agriculture Secretary, Arif Nadeem said that availability of canal water for irrigation was another important factor for timely sowing of wheat, proper tillage and application of fertilizers.
The irrigation department has been asked accordingly to fully ensure the sanctioned water discharge for each outlet including tails.