Rains will help produce four million tons more wheat

Timely and much needed rains in the first half of January 2008 will produce four million tons more wheat worth Rs 120 billion this year, Agriculture Development Commissioner Dr Qadir Bakhsh Baloch told Business Recorder here on Friday.
In an interview with this scribe Dr Baloch said that before these rains the prospects of 2007-08 Rabi crop were not good due a number of factors. He said first of all, Indus River System Authority had told the federal and provincial governments that there would be 28 percent shortage of water for the Rabi crops this season.
Secondly, the ADC said, due to water shortage, we could not achieve the wheat sowing target of 21 million acres and wheat was less sown on 0.5 million acres by the end of December 2007.
Thirdly, prices of DAP fertilisers shot up from $220 per ton to $830 per ton, consequently there was 40 percent lesser use of this very essential fertiliser for the wheat crop.
Fourthly, the government had not raised the wheat support price for the coming season despite enormous increase in the oil/diesel and fertiliser prices and economically farmers did not see much attraction in sowing the wheat crop over larger areas.
Dr Baloch said though the government had fixed wheat production target at 24 million tons yet due to these factors, the agriculture experts were not anticipating more than 20 million tons wheat production against the country's requirement of 24 million tons.
He said that these countrywide rains had not only watered the wheat fields but also provided the conducive temperature for the crop, which had brightened the prospects of good crop.
Dr Baloch said because of environmental and climatic changes world-wide, the wheat crop had failed in major wheat producing countries like the USA, Austria, Russia, China and India. He said presently there were minimum left over wheat stocks in these countries whereas wheat-consuming countries were building up their reserves resulting into price hike in the international markets.
He said even one million tons import of wheat had cost Rs 30 billion to the national economy. "Had there been no rains in January, we would have to import at least 4 million tons of wheat valued at Rs 120 billion next year to meet needs of our populace and that of Afghanistan," he added.
Agro-economists say that presently price of wheat in the international market is about $500 per ton, whereas our farmers were not being paid even half of this price. "Even the Indian government has fixed wheat/flour price at Rs 24 per kilogram, whereas in Pakistan it was about Rs 14-15 per KG.
Meanwhile the water inflows in the country's river rim stations have increased by more than 45,000 cusecs, which has enabled the Indus River System Authority to retain 21,000 cusecs water in Tarbela and Mangla dams and release 59.351 cusecs to the provinces for irrigation purposes.