Cotton belt: growers asked to protect standing crop from accumulated rainwater

The Met Office has asked the growers of cotton belt to protect their standing crop from accumulated rainwater during the monsoon seasons. It said the growers should draw up a mechanism to drain out the stagnant rainwater from cotton fields and also take any other needed steps. It also urged the farmers to take timely measures to protect their crops, livestock and other property during the expected rains.
It warned that the pest and viral may attack the standing crop. It said that more weeds growth was expected in sugarcane and other standing crops in upper parts of the country as more rains were likely. Farmers of upper half of the country should complete sowing of Kharif crops in time to utilise fully the present soil moisture especially growers of maize crop in rain-fed areas, it said.
Farmers of rain-fed areas obtaining water through tube wells and irrigated areas in upper parts should irrigation plan according to the expected rainy weather till August 31. "Rainfall/ gusty winds after irrigation cause water logging of standing crops like maize, sugarcane and cotton, Farmers should be very careful in this regard," the office said.
Mainly hot and dry weather is expected in most parts of Punjab with isolated light to moderate falls in D G Khan Division till August 24, besides light to moderate rainfall with isolated heavy falls in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha and Lahore divisions till August 24.
It said light to moderate rainfall was also expected in Faisalabad and Sahiwal divisions till August 24, while light to moderate rainfall is expected from August 28 till August 31 in the upper Punjab. It forecast that mainly hot and dry weather was expected in most parts of Sindh with light to moderate rainfall at few places including Karachi division from August 25 to August 29.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it said that mainly dry weather was expected in the province with scattered light to moderate rainfall in Peshawar, Kohat, Hazara, and Malakand divisions till August 26 and from August 29 to August 31. It said that mainly hot and dry weather was expected in most parts of Balochistan with light to moderate rain in northwest Balochistan including Zhob, Sibbi and Quetta till August 24 and from August 28 till August 30.
Rain-thunderstorm is expected in most parts of the Gilgit-Baltistan. Mainly cloudy weather is expected in most of the parts of the Kashmir with rain-thunderstorm in Muzzafarabad, Kotli and Rawalakot till August 26 and from August 29 to August 31. Normal wind pattern may prevail in most of the agricultural plains of the country till August 31 while during thunderstorm it may gust up to 30-50 knots an hour. Temperatures are likely to be slightly above normal in most of the agricultural plains, the office added.