Wheat sowing has been completed over an area of 5.397 million hectares registering 3.7 percent increase in the corresponding period of the last year. However, the area sown is 65.1 percent of the target of 8.29 million hectares set by the Federal Agriculture Committee (FAC), official sources said here on Wednesday.
According to an agriculture expert the wheat sowing is facing problem due to lack of rains and shortage of irrigation water, the situation would have better effects on the cultivation if normal rain occurred in the course of its sowing.
Though long dry spell affected the wheat sowing but better management and application of new techniques is helping the growers to attain the targets, he added.
The persistent dry spell had affected the agriculture sector during the last year and particularly the rain-fed areas were the major victim of it. Barani areas always depend on nature and rainfall.
According to Punjab Agriculture Department wheat is so far sown over an area of 6.2 million hectares which is 2.6 percent higher than the corresponding period of the last year. However, the area sown is 81.0 percent of the target.
In Sindh wheat sowing has been completed over an area of 0.88 million hectares which is 21.1 percent higher than the corresponding period of the last year and the sown area is 42.4 percent of the target.
Wheat sowing in NWFP is 0.77 million hectares while its sowing in Balochistan is 0.162 million hectares. According to official sources wheat crop is expected to achieve set production target of 20.2 million tonnes.