Former Federal Minister for Foor & Agriculture Al-Haj Sikandar Hayat Bosan has said that there might be shortage of grain in Pakistan as the area under wheat, maize, rice is shrinking gradually. He said that we should endeavour to increase the cultivated area and adopt modern technology to increase the per acre yield and compete the world.
Talking to newsmen here on Friday he said that Wheat sowing area has shrunk by a nominal 0.2 percent to 22.303 million acres during fiscal year 2009-10 compared to cultivation of 22.35 million acres in the previous year, which is an indication of gradually shrinking of grain cultivation area.
He said that present government had totally neglected the agriculture sector and left the farmers at the mercy of hoarders, adulterators and profiteers who were fleecing them ruthlessly. He said that MINFA report revealed that irrigated area for wheat cultivation increased two percent to 19.7 million acres while rain-fed area dropped 14 percent to 2.603 million acres. Last year, the irrigated area was 19.325 million acres and Barani area 3.026 million acres.
It says in Punjab total area under wheat cultivation (barani and irrigated) increased 0.142 million acres to 17.035 million acres. In Sindh, the sown area decreased 0.026 million acres to 2.521 million acres. In NWFP, the area fell 0.61 million acres to 1.842 million acres, while in Balochistan it dipped 0.103 million acres to 0.907 million acres in 2009-10.
Only in Punjab the irrigated area increased and in other provinces it decreased. In Punjab, the irrigated area rose 0.467 million acres to 15.649 million acres and barani area fell 0.325 million acres to 1.385 million acres. In Sindh, irrigated area declined 0.007 million acres to 2.428 million acres, while barani area was down 0.026 million acres to 0.093 million acres.
In NWFP, irrigated area declined 0.006 million acres to 0.813 million acres and barani area fell 0.055 million acres to 1.028 million acres. Irrigated area in Balochistan dropped 0.067 million acres to 0.81 million acres and barani area shrank 0.036 million acres to 0.97 million acres.
Bosan said that owing to canal water shortage and drought fears in certain areas, I am confident that production of rabi crops would be eight to ten percent less than the official target and we would be able produce 21 to 23 million tonnes of wheat in the upcoming Rabi season. Though the government is optimistic about sufficient quantity of wheat in the domestic market, common man still believes smuggling, hoarding and profiteering can aggravate the situation.
The government has to keep a vigilant eye on the issue. He said that in 2008-09, Pakistan harvested a record wheat crop of 24.03 million tons from an area of 22.36 million acres, an increase of 14 percent compared to 2007-08 wheat harvest of 21 million tons.
He said that cost of production was increasing day by day and farmers had to use 9 percent more DAP fertiliser to save their produce inspite of this fact that DAP price was beyond their reach. Farmers did their own every thing like consumption of more Urea than last year, use of certified wheat seeds, land-levelling method and herbicides to boost wheat production.
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