Wheat sowing in rain fed areas likely to increase by 2-4pc during current season

Wheat sowing in rain fed areas is expected to increase by 2-4per cent during current sowing season as crop cultivation gaining momentum after receiving the first rain of winter season. 

Wheat sowing in rain fed areas likely to increase by 2-4pc during current season

Wheat is a major cash crop of Rabi Season and grown over 9 million hectares across the country in order to meet with the staple food requirements as well as for exporting, said Member Plant Sciences Division, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali.

Talking to APP here on Tuesday, he said that rain fed areas contributes significantly in national output of wheat and favouring climate condition would help to achieve the set targets of the season.

Besides, he said that rains would not only positively impact the wheat crop of rain fed areas, but it would have far reaching impact on the crop of irrigated areas. 

Rains would help to augment the water resources, he said adding that it would bridge the deficiencies of water for irrigation and supplement the crop sowing as well as enhancing the local production.

He urged the farmers for cultivating the recommended seeds verities in order to maximize the per-acre yield to enhance farm income during the season.

Meanwhile, National Wheat Coordinator in National Agriculture Research Center Dr Sikandar Khan informed that wheat was cultivated over 1.5 million hectares of rain fed areas across the country out of total 9 million hectares, adding that Pothohar Region is depending on rains and some farmers had already cultivated on dry land.  

He called upon the farmers to ensure timely cultivation of crops and use the recommend verities as according to their ecology in order to achieve maximum output to enhance profit ratio as well as making the country food safer and secure.

He recommended that farmers of rain fed areas of Punjab Province to sow recommended wheat seed verities including Pakistan 2013, Borlaug 2016, Ahsan 2017, Baranii 2016 and Fateh Jang 2016 in order to get maximum output during the season.  

The verities including Bakhar Star, Akbar 2019, Fakhar-a-Bakhar, Ghazi 2019, Borlaug 2016 and Zencol 2016 were recommended for irrigated areas, he said adding that farmers of these areas could gain more output as compared the conventional verities.

Besides, he said that Benazir 2013, TD1, Nia Sarang, Nia Sunnari was recommended for irrigated areas of the Sindh province, adding that using the recommended seed verities would help to scale up the crop production to fulfill the demand.

National Wheat Coordinator also urged the farmers of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to ensure timely sowing of wheat crop to achieve maximum output.

Originally published at The nation