The Met Office on Wednesday advised farmers of rain-dependent and irrigated areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to complete wheat sowing before November 15 to get maximum yield. In the fresh advisory, the office said wheat cultivation was under way in parts of the country, and warned the growers delayed crop cultivation could result in loss of yield.
"The crop may be cultivated after this date [November 15] but considerable loss is expected due to low moisture content of the soil and rising temperatures in March and April," it added. It suggested the farmers of irrigated plains of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to sow varieties of wheat to minimise the loss yield, in case the cultivation gets delayed.
It said the wheat cultivation in the inundated parts of Sindh may be affected because the floodwater is still stagnant there. The stagnant water, which is expected to remain in these areas even after January next year is feared to affect wheat yield. The Met Office forecast rain-dust/thunderstorm, with isolated heavy falls in scattered places of Balochistan, particularly along the Makran coast from November 1 to November 3 2011. Sindh, it said, may also receive rain-dust/thunderstorm at scattered places particularly in southern Sindh from November 2 to November 4, 2011.
"Scattered rain rain-dust/thunderstorm is also likely in upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and upper Punjab from 3rd to 4th November 2011. Scattered rain-thundershower is also likely at scattered places of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan from 1st to 7th November 2011," it said. It said temperature at night is likely to stay below normal in most parts of Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, Malakand, Hazara and Rawalpindi Divisions from November 1 to November 10.
"Parts of Sindh and Balochistan may also experience below normal temperatures from 2nd to 7th November 2011," it added. Strong gusty winds and dust-storm are likely to hit parts of Balochistan and Sindh from November 1 to November 5, 2011 and parts of upper Punjab and upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa may also receive gusty winds from November 3 to November 5, 2011.