Over 26mn ton wheat, 9.6mn ton rice to be produced in 2017-18

ISLAMABAD: About 26.5 million tons of wheat will be produced during the crop season 2017-18 to fulfill the domestic requirements of country as well as for exporting.

According to an official document, the wheat production in the country during last season was recorded at 25.750 million tons showing an increase of 0.24 percent as compared to last year.

Meanwhile, about 9.6 million tons of rice would also be produced in the country to tackle with the domestic consumption as compared the production of 6.849 million, it added.

Rice output during previous crop season had witnessed 0.71 percent increase as against the set targets, it added.

The maize production targets was set at 6.200 million tons, where as about 13.6 million cotton bales production was fixed for the crop season 2017-18, it added.

The government has fixed at target to produce about 70.39 million tons of sugarcane crop to fulfill the domestic requirements of the sugar.

It was that about 73.60 million tons of sugarcane was produced during the crop season 2016-17 which was up by 12.41 percent as compared to the production of 2015-16, it added.

Meanwhile, maize production during last crop season was recorded at 6.13 million tons showing an increase of 16.30 percent, it added.

In order to fully materializing the targets, the government has announced several measures including provision of subsidized fertilizers, availability of certified seed and agricultural credit for farmers.