The on-going wet spell over the upper parts of the country has given a boost to wheat and gram sowing over 1.8 million acres of land in the Barani (rain-fed) areas of Punjab, said Director General, Agriculture Services Extension, Dr Anjum Ali here on Monday.
Rains and thunderstorm with snowfall has been reported over the hills in Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Hazara, Malakand, Peshawar and Kohat divisions during the past 24 hours. The meteorological department has recorded chief amounts of rainfall in mm as under:
Rawlakot: 35, Kotli: 32, Kaku: 30, Mangla & Dir: 29 each, Balakot: 23, Muzafarabad: 21, Islamabad, Peshawar & Cherat: 15 each, Pattan: 14, Murree, Saidusharif & Garidupatta: 12 each, Jehlum: 11, Sialkot: 10, Kohat, Chitral, & Lower Dir: 09, Drosh: 08, Astore, Mandi Bahauddin: 04 each and Skardu: 2.
While some other cities of central Punjab also received light showers on Monday morning.
Dr Anjum said that Punjab government had set a target of wheat sowing over 16.9 million acres of land in the canal and tube well irrigated areas for 2009-2010 Rabi crop. "Though the wheat campaign is in full swing and till Monday it has been sown over 0.2 million acres of land, the farmers in the rain-fed Barani areas of Rawalpindi and Sargodha divisions could not start sowing due to prolonged drought conditions," he added.
He said the recent light rains have been doubly helpful, as the spells have not disturbed the ongoing harvesting of the precious Basmati and other varieties of the rice crop and picking of Phutti (cotton) in southern Punjab.
It may be added that the National Drought Monitoring Centre (NDMC), a specialised centre of Pakistan Meteorological Department, had predicted that emerging drought conditions in the country, especially in the Barani areas of Punjab and Balochistan due to prevailing dry weather, would end in the second week of November.
Due to the prolonged dry spell of past two months and deficient rainfall in the last monsoon, the Barani (rain-fed) areas were drying up rapidly and the existing low soil moisture was not supportive for the sowing of wheat crop in the areas.
However, snowfall on the hills and scattered rain of moderate intensity during the past 24 hours has subsided the drought conditions and farmers have started sowing of Rabi crops including fodder with the requisite soil moisture and low temperature.
According to Met Office, the current El-Nino conditions that suppressed monsoon rainfall during this year are expected to last during 2009/2010 winter. The El-Nino phenomenon generally has no negative impact on winter precipitation in Pakistan. The department says it is closely watching these global meteorological conditions, and a seasonal forecast will be issued during mid December.
The Met Office forecast mainly dry weather in the Islamabad and Punjab for Tuesday, with isolated rain and thunderstorm in Lahore and Gujranwala divisions besides Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan during next 12 -18 hours. Mainly dry weather is expected in NWFP. However isolated rain-thunderstorm with snowfalls over hills may occur in upper parts of the NWFP, it added.
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