Cotton season has begun in Punjab before Sindh this year for the first time in the 63 year old history of Pakistan. At least 85 ginning factories have started operation in Punjab and merely 20 started in Sindh province. It is for the first time that more than 100 ginning factories have started functioning in July, and set a record.
PCGA's CEC member Ehsan-ul-Haq said that cotton picking has begun in Rahimyarkhan, Sahiwal, Khanewal, Haroonabad, Faqirwali, Bahawalnagar, Chichawatni, Pakpattan, Mian Chunnu, Hasilpur, Kabirwala, Toba Tek singh, Sargodha and Arif wala two month before normal season. He said that it has been observed that cotton sowing trend is changing in Punjab and farmers are sowing Bt cotton in January and February, which may cause decline in the wheat production in the country.
He said that wheat being the staple diet is the most important crop and cultivated on largest acreage in almost every part of the country. It contributes 14.4 percent to the value-added in agriculture, and 3.0 percent to GDP.
Over the past three decades, increased agricultural productivity occurred largely due to the deployment of high-yielding cultivars and increased fertiliser use. With the introduction of semi-dwarf wheat cultivars, wheat productivity has increased in all major cropping systems representing the diverse and varying agro-ecological conditions. Farmers generally plant wheat late in rice-wheat, sugarcane-wheat, and cotton-wheat areas of Pakistan due to late harvesting of these kharif crops, which results in drastic low yields because the crop is exposed to heat stress at grain filling period, leading to the formation of shrivelled grain.
Currently, only 20 percent of wheat is being planted at optimum planting time (15th October to 15th November). To achieve good yield, wheat sowing should be carried out well in time. Any delay in planting would reduce yield drastically. For example, wheat planted after 10th November would reduce the yield as high as 42 kg/ha/day (1 percent loss per day). There will be 8, 16, 32 and 50 percent reduction in wheat grain yield for each fortnight after 10th November.
In late planted wheat, the yield reduction is due to shorter growth period and high temperature at crop maturity. Late planted crop has lower germination, fewer tillers, smaller heads, shrivelled grain and lower biomass than the timely planted crop. Therefore, the change in sowing time from present to two weeks earlier could result in addition of 2.0 million tones in national wheat production.